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iU^l^'iM-'i'-'l 


LIBRARY 


THE 


CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

BY 
CHARLES  HODGE, 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY, 

PART   II. 

1741    TO    1788. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM   S.  MAR  TIEN. 

1840. 


^^ 


Entered  according  to  the  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1840,  by  William  S. 
Martien,  in  the  clerk's  office  of  the  district  court  for  the  eastern  district 
of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE. 

The  design  of  this  history  is  to  exhibit  the  charac- 
ter and  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States.  To  accompHsh  this  object,  it  was 
necessary  to  bring  to  view,  not  only  the  declarations, 
but  the  acts  of  its  highest  judicatory.  The  work  has 
thus  become  rather  a  history  of  the  synod,  than  of 
the  whole  church,  and  does  not  pretend  to  enter  into 
those  details,  which  would  be  necessary  in  a  more 
comprehensive  work.  Those  controversies,  how- 
ever, which  affected  the  action  of  the  synod,  come 
legitimately  within  the  scope  of  this  history.  Hence 
an  account  of  the  great  revival  which  occurred  to- 
wards the  middle  of  the  last  century,  was  necessary, 
in  order  to  render  intelligible  the  history  of  the  dis- 
sentions  which  agitated  and  ultimately  divided  the 
synod.  To  that  revival  therefore,  the  introductory 
chapter  of  the  present  volume  is  devoted.  The  prin- 
cipal sources  of  information  on  this  subject,  to  which 
the  writer  has  had  access,  are  the  following:  Prince's 
Christian  History,  in  two  volumes,  a  contempora- 


-t  cj  4  /ij  O  O 


IV  PREFACE. 

neous  work,  originally  published  in  numbers,  con- 
taining accounts  of  the  revival  in  this  country  and  in 
Scotland,  written,  in  general,  by  the  pastors  of  the 
churches  in  which  the  revival  occurred;  Gillies'  Col- 
lections, which,  as  far  as  it  relates  to  this  country,  is 
principally  a  reprint  of  the  former  work;  White- 
field's  Life  and  Journals;  Edwards'  Life,  Corres- 
pondence, and  Sermons ;  Chauncy's  Seasonable 
Thoughts,  another  contemporaneous  work,  contain- 
ing the  dark  side  of  the  picture;  Fisk's  nine  ser- 
mons, preached  in  Stonnington  after  the  revival,  and 
containing  many  valuable  historical  details;  Trum- 
bull's History  of  Connecticut;  President  Dickinson's 
Works;  Works  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair.  Besides 
these,  there  are  a  great  many  smaller  works,  princi- 
pally pamphlets,  for  and  against  the  men  and  mea- 
sures of  those  days,  quoted  and  referred  to  in  the 
following  pages,  which  need  not  be  particularly  men- 
tioned here. 

The  authorities  relied  upon  for  the  account  given 
of  the  schism,  besides  the  official  records  of  the  sy- 
nod, which  themselves  contain  much  of  the  history, 
are  the  contemporaneous  works  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  two  parties.  As  the  controversy  ostensibly 
arose  out  of  the  disregard,  on  the  part  of  the  presby- 
tery of  New  Brunswick,  of  two  acts  of  the  synod. 


PREFACE. 


the  Apology  of  that  presbytery  presented  in  1739,  for 
their  conduct,  stands  first  in  order.  The  only  copy 
of  that  work,  of  which  the  writer  has  any  knowledge, 
is  in  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety at  Worcester;  for  the  use  of  which  he  is  in- 
debted to  the  kind  intervention  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  An- 
derson of  Boston.  The  greater  part  of  the  Apology, 
however,  is  reprinted  in  Mr.  Thompson's  Govern- 
ment of  the  Church  of  Christ,  published  in  1741, 
where,  according  to  the  good  old  method  of  contro- 
versy, it  is  quoted  in  order  to  its  being  refuted.  Mr. 
Thompson's  strictures  on  the  Apology  were  answered 
by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair,  in  his  vindication  of  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren,  contained  in  the  printed 
volume  of  his  works.  In  1740,  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent 
and  Mr.  Samuel  Blair,  presented  to  the  synod  two 
memorials  containing  various  complaints  against  their 
brethren.  These  memorials  are  given  at  length  in 
Mr.  Thompson's  work  above-mentioned.  This  latter 
work,  therefore,  is  itself  one  of  the  most  important 
books  relating  to  this  period  of  our  history,  embracing 
as  it  does  the  views  of  both  parties  as  to  most  of  the 
points  in  controversy.  It  was  before  the  schism  also 
that  Mr.  Tennent  preached  at  Nottingham,  his  ser- 
mon on  the  Dangers  of  an  Unconverted  Ministry, 
which  is  contained  in  volume  143,  of  the  valuable 

1* 


VI  PREFACE. 

collection  of  pamphlets  extending  to  near  a  thousand 
volumes,  presented  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague  of  Al- 
bany, to  the  library  of  the  Theological  Seminary  in 
this  place.  In  1741,  Mr.  John  Thompson  pubhshed 
his  sermon  on  the  Doctrine  of  Conviction,  which  was 
answered  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley  in  1743. 

The  Protest  presented  to  the  synod  in  1741,  which 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  schism,  was  printed 
with  a  historical  preface  and  appendix,  and  is  pre- 
served in  the  Philadelphia  Library.  Mr.  Tennent 
immediately  published  Remarks  upon  that  Protest, 
which  are  included  in  the  collection  of  his  works  in 
the  library  at  Worcester.  Those  Remarks  were  an- 
swered in  a  work  entitled.  Refutation  of  Mr.  Ten- 
nent's  Remarks,  &c.,  by  some  of  the  members  of  the 
synod,  Philadelphia,  1742.  The  brethren,  who  had 
been  excluded  from  the  synod  published  a  Declaration 
of  their  sentiments  on  the  subjects  of  doctrine  and 
church  government.  This  tract  the  writer  has  not 
been  able  to  find.  It  is,  however,  largely  quoted  in 
the  Detector  Detected,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Smith, 
contained  in  vol.  561,  of  Dr.  Sprague's  collection. 

The  year  after  the  schism,  Mr.  G.  Tennent  printed 
his  sermons  against  the  Moravians.  Those  sermons 
an  anonymous  writer  in  Boston  contrasted  with  Mr. 
Tennent's  Nottingham  discourse,  in  a  book  called  the 


PREFACE.  Vii 

Examiner,  or  Gilbert  versus  Tennent.  This  was  an- 
swered by  Mr.  Tennent,  in  the  Examiner  Examined, 
printed  in  1743.  Both  of  these  works  are  generally 
accessible.  Mr.  Tennent's  Irenicura,  or  Plea  for  the 
Peace  of  Jerusalem,  published  in  1749,  with  the  de- 
sign to  heal  the  divisions  in  the  church,  is  another 
of  the  most  important  works  relating  to  these  con- 
troversies. 

The  writer  has  faithfully  given  the  results  of  a 
careful  examination  of  these  contemporaneous  publi- 
cations. The  conclusions  to  which  he  has  arrived, 
as  to  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  differ  in  some 
measure  from  his  own  previous  impressions;  and  may 
differ  still  more  from  the  accounts  preserved  by  tra- 
dition in  various  parts  of  the  church.  It  is  believed, 
however,  that  the  reader  will  find  no  conclusion  in 
the  following  pages  materially  different  from  those  to 
which  Mr.  Tennent  had  arrived  in  1749. 

With  regard  to  the  two  other  chapters  contained 
in  this  volume,  there  is  less  to  be  said.  They  are 
little  more  than  a  digest  of  the  minutes.  In  the  one 
a  history  is  given  of  the  synods  of  Philadelphia  and 
New  York,  during  the  seventeen  years  the  separation 
lasted,  by  classifying  their  acts  under  certain  heads. 
The  same  method  is  pursued  in  reference  to  the 
united  synod,  which  was  formed   in  1758,  and  dis- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

solved  in  1788,  after  having  formed  itself  into  four 
synods,  and  prepared  the  constitution  under  which 
we  have  acted  for  fifty  years;  a  period  crouded  with 
manifestations  of  the  mercy  and  faithfulness  of  God 
to  our  church. 

Princeton,  May  6,  1840. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    GREAT    REVIVAL    OP    RELIGION,    1740 1745. 

Introductory  remarks. — State  of  religion  before  the  revival,  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  15 ;  in  New  England,  20 ;  in  Scotland  and  England,  23. — 
History  of  the  revival  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Jersey,  at 
Freehold,  24 ;  Lawrenceville  and  Hopewell,  28 ;  at  Newark  and  Elizabeth- 
town,  30;  in  Pennsylvania,  at  Philadelphia,  34;  at  New  London,  37;  at 
Neshaminy,  Nottingham,  &c.  40 ;  in  Virginia,  42. — History  of  the  revival 
in  New  England,  48. — Proofs  of  the  genuineness  of  the  revival,  from  the 
judgment  of  contemporary  writers,  55;  from  the  doctrines  preached,  56; 
from  the  experience  of  its  subjects,  61 ;  from  its  results,  62. — Rapid  decline 
of  religion  after  the  revival,  proved  by  the  testimony  of  Edwards,  65,  and 
by  the  spread  of  false  doctrines,  66. — Evils  attending  the  revival,  spurious 
religious  feeling,  78;  bodily  agitations,  87;  enthusiasm,  99;  origin  of  a 
fanatical  spirit  in  Connecticut,  101 ;  account  of  the  Rev.  James  Daven- 
port, 102;  censoriousness,  107;  disorderly  itinerating,  116;  lay  preach- 
ing, 120. 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE     SCHISM,     1741. 

The  act  of  the  synod  relating  to  itinerating  preaching,  124. — Act  respecting 
the  examination  of  candidates,  124. — These  acts  disobeyed  by  the  New 
Brunswick  presbytery,  125. — That  presbytery  censured  by  the  synod. — 
The  apology  of  the  presbytery,  126. — They  continue  to  disobey  the  synod, 
131. — The  propriety  of  their  conduct  considered,  132. — The  effects  of  this 
controversy  in  the  congregations  and  presbyteries,  142. — Efforts  made  in 
1740,  to  compromise  the  difficulty,  142. — Papers  of  complaints  presented 
by  Messrs.  G.  Tennent  and  S.  Blair,  145. — Mr.  Tennent's  Sermon  on  the 
dangers  of  an  imconverted  ministry,  152. — Complaints  against  Mr.  Ten- 
nent, 159. — Complaint  against  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead,  170 ;  against  Mr. 
David  Alexander,  173. — Meeting  of  the  synod  in  1741,  175. — The  case  of 
Mr.  Creaghead  before  the  synod,  176. — The  Protest  presented  by  Robert 
Cross  and  others,  179. — The  schism,  188. — Proceedings  of  the  New  Bruns- 
wick brethren  afler  the  schism,  195. — Efforts  made  in  1742.  to  heal  the 
breach,  198 ;  the  Protest  of  J.  Dickinson  and  others,  199. — Efforts  for  a 
reconciliation  in  1743,  204. — Renewal  of  those  efforts  in  1745,  212. — 
Formation  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  219. — Points  of  difference  between 
the  two  parties  as  to  the  revival,  219;  as  to  doctrine,  228;  as  to  church 
government,  239. — Causes  of  the  schism,  251. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH    DURING    THE    SCHISM, 

1741—1758. 

Synod  of  Philadelphia,  253. — Accessions  to  the  synod,  255. — Missionary 
labours  of  the    synod,  256. — Its   efforts  in   behalf  of  education,  260. — 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Formation  of  the  Newark  Academy,  262. — Standard  of  doctrine,  270. — 
Form  of  government,  271. — Prcsbyterial  powers  exercised  by  the  synod, 
271. — General  supervision,  275. — Decision  of  cases  of  conscience,  276. — 
Pastoral  Addresses,  277. 
Synod  of  New  York — Its  articles  of  agreement,  281. — List  of  members, 
282. — Missionary  labours,  284.— Efforts  for  the  promotion  of  learning, 
292. — College  of  New  Jersey,  292. — Standard  of  doctrine  adopted  by  the 
synod,  296. — Its  form  of  government,  acts  of  review  and  control,  297. — 
Formation  of  new  presbyteries,  310. — Judicial  decisions,  310. — The  synod 
acted  by  a  commission,  and  as  a  presbytery,  318. — Negotiations  for  a 
union  of  the  two  synods,  322. — The  plan  of  union  adopted  in  1758,  335. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK   AND    PHILADELPHIA, 

1758— 178S. 

I,  Missionary  operations,  347. — II.  The  promotion  of  learning,  360;  Newark 
Academy,  360 ;  professorship  of  divinity,  361 ;  College  of  New  Jersey, 
362;  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry,  367,  and  of  the  young 
generally,  369. — III.  Standard  of  doctrine,  370. — IV.  Form  of  govern- 
ment; ordinary  powers;  the  formation  of  presbyteries,  376;  general  regu- 
lations, 386;  rule  respecting  the  examination  of  candidates  on  their  religi- 
ous experience,  390 ;  rule  relating  to  foreign  ministers,  400  ;  rule  respect- 
ing ordinations  sine  titulo,  405. — Decisions  respecting  psalmody,  407 ; 
respecting  marriage,  409;  respecting  baptism,  412;  respecting  slavery, 
414. — General  supervision,  416. — Appellate  jurisdiction;  appeal  from  the 
first  church  in  Philadelphia,  418;  from  the  second  church  in  Philadelphia, 
419;  from  Newcastle,  419;  from  the  third  church  respecting  a  call  for 
Mr.  Duffield,  420. — V.  Exercise  of  extraordinary  powers,  in  acting  by  a 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

commission,  425;  in  the  exercise  of  presbyterial  powers,  426;  in  clothing 
committees  with  synodical  authority,  433. — VI.  The  synod's  intercourse 
with  other  churches:  general  correspondence,  438;  intercourse  with  the 
Seceders,  438 ;  with  the  Reformed  Dutch,  and  Associate  Reformed,  439 ; 
with  the  Connecticut  churches,  447 ;  united  opposition  to  the  introduction 
of  bishops  into  America,  451. — VII.  Conduct  of  the  synod  in  relation  to 
the  revolutionary  war,  481;  address  on  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  485; 
pastoral  letter  in  1775,  487;  address  of  the  clergy  in  Philadelphia,  493; 
pastoral  letter  in  1783,  495. — VIII.  Formation  of  the  new  constitution, 
497.— IX.  General  state  of  the  church  from  1758  to  1788,  511. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 


PART  II. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  GREAT   REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION,  1740-45. 

Introductory  Remarks.— State  of  Religion  before  the  Reviral  in  the  Presby- 
terian  Church;  in  New-England,  in  Scotland,  in  England. — History  of 
Revival  in  the  Presbyterian  Church;  in  New^. Jersey,  at  Freehold,  Lawrence- 
villc,  Pennington,  Amwell,  Newark,  and  Elizabethtown ;  in  Pennsylvania, 
at  Philadelphia,  New^  Londonderry,  Neshaminy,  Nottingham,  &c.;  in  Vir- 
ginia; in  New-England. — Proofs  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Revival;  from 
the  judgment  of  contemporary  witnesses ;  from  the  doctrines  preached ; 
from  the  experience  of  its  subjects;  from  its  effects. — State  of  Religion  al- 
ter the  Revival.— Evils  attending  the  Revival;  spurious  rehgious  feehngs, 
bodily  agitations,  enthusiasm,  censoriousness,  disorderly  itinerating,  and 
]  ay-preaching. — Conclusion. 

The  great  revival,  which  about  a  hundred  years  ago, 
visited  so  extensively  the  American  Churches,  is  so  much 
implicated  with  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  our  own  de- 
nomination, that  the  latter  cannot  be  understood  without 
some  knowledge  of  the  former.  The  controversies  con- 
nected with  the  revival,  are  identical  with  the  disputes 
which  resulted  in  the  schism,  which  divided  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  1741.  Before  entering,  therefore,  upon 
the  history  of  that  event,  it  will  be  necessary  to  present  the 
reader  with  a  general  survey  of  that  great  religious  ex- 
citement, which  arrayed  in  conflicting  parties  the  friends 
of  religion  in  every  part  of  the  country.     This  division  of 

2 


14  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

sentiment  could  hardly  have  occurred,  had  the  revival  been 
one  of  unmingled  purity.  Such  a  revival,  however,  the 
church  has  never  seen.  Every  luminous  body  is  sure  to 
cause  shadows  in  every  direction  and  of  every  form.  Where 
the  Son  of  man  sows  wheat,  the  evil  one  is  sure  to  sow 
tares.  It  must  be  so.  For  it  needs  be  that  offences  come, 
though  wo  to  those  by  whom  they  come. 

The  men,  who,  either  from  their  character  or  circum- 
stances, are  led  to  take  the  most  prominent  part,  during 
such  seasons  of  excitement,  are  themselves  often  carried  to 
extremes,  or  are  so  connected  with  the  extravagant,  that 
they  are  sometimes  the  last  to  perceive  and  the  slowest  to 
oppose  the  evils  which  so  frequently  mar  the  work  of  God, 
and  burn  over  the  fields  which  he  had  just  watered  with 
his  grace.  Opposition  to  these  evils  commonly  comes  from 
a  diiferent  quarter;  from  wise  and  good  men  who  have 
been  kept  out  of  the  focus  of  the  excitement.  And  it  is 
well  that  there  are  such  opposers,  else  the  church  would 
soon  be  over-run  with  fanaticism. 

The  term  revival  is  commonly  used  in  a  very  compre- 
hensive sense.  It  includes  all  the  phenomena  attending  a 
general  religious  excitement;  as  well  those  which  spring 
from  God,  as  those  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  infirmities 
of  men.  Hence  those  who  favour  the  work,  for  what  there 
is  divine  in  it,  are  often  injuriously  regarded  as  the  pa- 
trons of  its  concomitant  irregularities;  and  those  who  op- 
pose what  is  unreasonable  about  it,  are  as  improperly 
denounced  as  the  enemies  of  religion.  It  is  therefore  only 
one  expression  of  that  fanaticism  which  haunts  the  spirit  of 
revivals,  to  make  such  a  work  a  touchstone  of  character ; 
to  regard  all  as  good  who  favour  it,  and  all  as  bad  who  op- 
pose it.  That  this  should  be  done  during  the  continuance 
of  the  excitement  is  an  evil  to  be  expected  and  pardoned; 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  15 

but  to  commit  the  same  error  in  the  historical  review  of 
such  a  period,  would  admit  of  no  excuse.  Hard  as  it  was 
then  either  to  see  or  to  beUeve,  we  can  now  easily  perceive 
and  readily  credit  that  some  of  the  best  and  some  of  the 
worst  men  in  the  Church,  were  to  be  found  on  either  side, 
in  the  controversy  respecting  the  great  revival  of  the  last 
century.  The  mere  geographical  position  of  a  man,  in 
many  cases,  determined  the  part  he  took  in  that  controversy. 
A  sober  and  sincere  Christian,  within  the  sphere  of  Daven- 
port's operations,  might  well  be  an  opposer,  who,  had  he 
lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edwards,  might  have  ap- 
proved and  promoted  the  revival.  Yet  Edwards  and  Dav- 
enport were  then  regarded  as  leaders  in  the  same  great 
work. 

That  there  had  been  a  lamentable  declension  in  religion 
both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  this  country,  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged by  the  writers  of  this  period.  The  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Blair,  speaking  of  the  state  of  religion  in  Pennsylvania 
at  that  time,  says:  "I  doubt  not  but  there  were  some  sin- 
cerely religious  persons  up  and  down ;  and  there  were,  I 
believe,  a  considerable  number  in  several  congregations 
pretty  exact,  according  to  their  education,  in  the  observance 
of  the  external  forms  of  religion,  not  only  as  to  attendance 
upon  public  ordinances  on  the  Sabbath,  but  also  as  to  the 
practice  of  family  worship,  and  perhaps  secret  prayer  too; 
but  with  those  things,  the  most  part  seemed,  to  all  appear- 
ance, to  rest  contented,  and  to  satisfy  their  conscience  with 
a  dead  formality  in  religion.  A  very  lamentable  ignorance 
of  the  essentials  of  true  practical  religion,  and  of  the  doc- 
trines relating  thereto,  very  generally  prevailed.  The  na- 
ture and  necessity  of  the  new-birth  were  little  known  or 
thought  of ;  the  necessity  of  a  conviction  of  sin  and  misery, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  opening  and  applying  the  law  to  the 


16  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

conscience,  in  order  to  a  saving  closure  with  Christ,  was 
hardly  known  at  all  to  most.  The  necessity  of  being  first 
in  Christ  by  a  vital  union  and  in  a  justified  state,  before 
our  religious  services  can  be  well  pleasing  or  acceptable  to 
God,  was  very  little  understood  or  thought  of;  but  the 
common  notion  seemed  to  be  that  if  people  were  aiming  to 
be  in  the  way  of  duty  as  well  as  they  could,  as  they  im- 
agined, there  was  no  reason  to  be  much  afraid."  In  conse- 
quence of  this  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  practical  religion, 
there  were,  he  adds,  great  carelessness  and  indiff'erence 
about  the  things  of  eternity;  great  coldness  and  unconcern 
in  public  worship;  a  disregard  of  the  Sabbath,  and  preva- 
lence of  worldy  amusements  and  follies.^ 

In  1734  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  found  it  necessary  to 
issue  a  serious  admonition  to  the  presbyteries  to  examine 
candidates  for  the  ministry  and  for  admission  to  the  Lord's 
supper,  "  as  to  their  experience  of  a  work  of  sanctifying 
grace  in  their  hearts;"  and  to  inquire  regularly  into  the 
life,  conversation,  and  ministerial  diligence  of  their  mem- 
bers, especially  as  to  whether  they  preached  in  an  evangeli- 
cal and  fervent  manner.  ^  This  admonition  shows  that  there 
was  a  defect  as  to  all  these  points,  on  the  part  of  at  least 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Synod. 

In  1740  Messrs.  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair  pre- 
sented two  representations,  complaining  of  "  many  defects 
in  our  ministry,"  that  are,  say  the  Synod,  "  matter  of  the 
greatest  lamentation,  if  chargeable  upon  our  members. 
The  Synod  do  therefore  solemnly  admonish  all  the  min- 
isters within  our  bounds,  seriously  to  consider  the  weight 

'  Narrative  of  the  late  remarkable  revival  of  religion  in  the  congregation  of 
New  Londonderry,  and  in  other  parts  of  Pennsylvania.  By  Rev.  Saml.  Blair, 
printed  in  his  works  p.  33G  ;  and  in  Gillies*  collections  vol.  ii.  p.  150. 

2  See  Part  First  of  this  History  p.  240. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  17 

of  their  charge,  and,  as  they  will  answer  it  at  the  great  day 
of  Christ,  to  take  care  to  approve  themselves  to  God,  in 
the  instances  complained  of.  And  the  Synod  do  recom- 
mend it  to  the  several  presbyteries  to  take  care  of  their  se- 
veral members  in  these  particulars."^ 

In  these  papers,  which  will  be  noticed  more  at  length 
in  the  following  chapter,  complaint  is  made  of  the  want  of 
fidelity  and  zeal  in  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  in  the  dis- 
charge of  other  ministerial  duties;  and  the  strong  conviction 
is  expressed  that  many  of  the  members  of  the  Synod  were 
in  an  unconverted  state.  It  is  true  indeed  that  such  general 
complaints  might  be  uttered  now,  or  at  almost  any  period 
of  the  church,  and  that  of  themselves  they  give  us  but  little 
definite  information  of  the  character  of  the  clergy.  When  or 
where  might  it  not  be  said,  that  many  of  the  preachers  of  the 
Gospel  were  too  worldly  in  their  conversation,  too  little  ur- 
gent, discriminating,  and  faithful  in  their  preaching  ?  That 
these  faults,  however,  prevailed  at  the  period  under  consi- 
deration, to  a  greater  extent  than  usual,  there  is  little  reason 
to  doubt.  Mr.  Thompson,  in  his  answer  to  these  charges, 
says,  with  respect  to  the  complaint,  "  concerning  the  low 
state  of  religion  and  experimental  godliness,  and  the  influ- 
ence which  the  negligence  and  remissness  of  ministers  in  the 
duties  of  their  office  have  upon  the  same,  I  acknowledge  that 
I  believe  there  is  too  much  ground  for  it,  and  that  it  is  just 
matter  of  mourning  and  lamentation  to  all  who  have  the 
welfare  of  Zion  and  the  prosperity  of  souls  at  heart ;  yea,  I  am 
firmly  persuaded  that  our  barrenness  and  fruitlessness  under 
the  means  of  grace,  the  decay  of  vital  godliness  in  both  min- 
isters and  people,  our  too  great  contentedness  with  a  life- 
less lukewarm  orthodoxy  of  profession,  is  one  principal  evil 

'  Minutes  of  Synod  vol.  ii.  p.  72. 
2* 


X8  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

whereby  our  God  hath  been  provoked  against  us,  to  suffer 
us  to  fall  into  such  divisions  and  confusions  as  we  are  visi- 
bly involved  in."  ^  He  makes  the  same  acknowledgment 
with  regard  to  some  of  the  more  specific  charges.  In  refer- 
ence to  that  respecting  their  talking  to  the  people  more 
about  secular  matters  than  about  religion,  he  says:  "I  may 
charge  myself  in  particular  with  being  guilty  of  misimprov- 
ing  many  a  precious  opportunity  that  might  have  been  im- 
proved to  much  better  purpose  for  edification  of  myself  and 
others.  Yet  I  hope  the  generality  of  us  are  not  degenerate 
to  that  desperate  degree  in  this  matter  as  to  prove  us  alto- 
gether graceless;  or  to  give  our  hearers  just  ground  to  be- 
lieve that  we  do  not  desire  them  to  be  deeply  and  heartily 
concerned  about  their  eternal  estate."  As  to  the  more 
serious  charge  of  "  endeavouring  to  prejudice  people  against 
the  work  of  God's  power  and  grace  in  the  conviction  and 
conversion  of  sinners,"  he  pronounces  it  to  be,  as  far  as  he 
knows,  "a  downright  calumny."  "It  is  true,"  he  adds, 
'•  there  are  some  things  in  our  brethren's  conduct  which  we 
cannot  but  condemn,  and  have  condemned  and  spoken 
against  both  in  public  and  private;  and  some  things  also 
which  are  the  frequent  effects  of  their  preaching  on  many 
of  their  hearers  which  we  cannot  esteem  so  highly  of,  as 
both  they  and  their  admirers  do."  He  then  refers  to  their 
censoriousness,  to  their  endeavours  to  prejudice  their  peo- 
ple against  them  as  unconverted,  their  intruding  into  other 
men's  congregations  against  their  will,  and  the  extrava- 
gances which  they  allowed  and  encouraged  in  public  wor- 
ship. He  also  denies  the  charge,  that  they  insisted  on 
external  duties  to  the  "  neglect  of  vital  religion  and  the 
necessity  of  regeneration;"  and  the  assertion  that  they 
"  seldom  or  never  preached  on  the  nature  and  necessity  of 

"  Church  of  Christ,  p.  29. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  19 

conversion,"  he  declares  to  be  another  slander  taken  up 
from  prejudiced  persons. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  neither  Mr.  Tennent  nor  Mr. 
Blair,  when  professedly  bringing  forward  grounds  of  com- 
plaint against  their  brethren,  mentions  either  the  denial  of 
any  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  or  open  immorality. 
It  is  not  to  be  doubted,  that  had  error  or  immoral  conduct 
prevailed,  or  been  tolerated  among  the  clergy,  it  would 
have  been  prominently  presented.^  We  know,  however, 
from  other  sources,  that  there  was  no  prevalent  defection 
from  the  truth  among  the  ministers  of  our  church.  The 
complaint  against  the  old  side  was,  that  they  adhered  too 
rigidly  to  the  Westminster  Confession;  and  the  theology  of 
every  leading  man  on  the  new  side,  is  known  from  his  writ- 
ings, to  have  been  thoroughly  Calvinistic.  There  is  not  a 
single  minister  of  that  age  in  connexion  with  our  church, 
whose  name  has  come  down  to  us  under  the  suspicion  of 
Arminianism.  False  doctrine,  therefore,  was  not  the  evil 
under  which  the  church  then  suifered.  It  was  rather  a  ( 
coldness,  and  sluggishness  with  regard  to  religion.  There 
was,  undoubtedly,  before  the  revival,  a  general  indiflerence 

'  The  charge  which  Mr.  Tennent  makes  against  the  Synod,  of  error  in  doc- 
trine, respecting  the  foundation  of  mora!  obligation,  is  so  evidently  unjust, 
that  it  may  be  safely  disregarded.  It  will  be  remembered  that  he  and  Mr. 
Cowell  had  a  long  dispute  upon  this  subject,  which  was  brought  before  the 
Synod,  and  that  President  Dickinson  and  others,  as  a  committee,  brought  in 
a  report  condemning  the  opinions  against  which  Mr.  Tennent  contended,  in 
such  terms  that  he  himself  voted  for  the  adoption  of  the  report.  He  has  cer- 
tainly, therefore,  no  right  to  charge  the  adoption  of  that  report  as  a  proof  of 
unsound  doctrine.  As  to  the  other  point,  which  he  specifies,  viz :  that  there 
is  a  certainty  of  salvation  annexed  to  the  efforts  of  unrenewed  men,  we  know 
nothing,  except  that  ]\Ir.  Thompson  says,  "  If  there  be  any  of  the  members 
of  our  Synod  of  this  judgment,  it  is  more  than  I  know,  and  I  am  persuaded 
there  arc  very  few ;  for  my  own  part,  I  know  not  one  whom  I  so  much  as 
suspect,  in  this  particular."     See  on  this  subject  ch.  iii.  p.  236  of  this  work. 


20  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

and  lukewarmness  among  the  clergy  and  people;  and  there 
is  too  much  reason  to  fear,  that  in  some  cases  the  ministers, 
though  orthodox,  knew  nothing  of  experimental  religion. 
These  cases  were  indeed  not  so  numerous  as  the  represen- 
tations of  Tennent  would  lead  us  to  expect,  as  he  himself 
afterwards  freely  acknowledged. 

As  far,  then,  as  the  Presbyterian  church  is  concerned,  the 
state  of  religion  was  very  low,  before  the  commencement 
of  the  great  revival.  As  that  work  extended  over  the  whole 
country,  and  was  perhaps  more  general  and  powerful  in 
New  England  than  any  where  else,  in  order  to  have  any 
just  idea  of  its  character,  our  attention  must  be  directed  to 
the  congregational  churches,  as  well  as  to  those  of  our  own 
denomination.  After  the  first  generation  of  puritans  had 
passed  away,  religion  seems  to  have  declined  very  rapidly, 
so  that  the  writings  of  those  who  had  seen  what  the  ciiurches 
in  New  England  were  at  the  beginning,  are  filled  with 
lamentations  over  their  subsequent  condition,  and  with 
gloomy  prognostications  as  to  the  future.  As  early  as  1678, 
Dr.  Increase  Mather  says,  "The  body  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion is  a  poor,  perishing,  unconverted,  and  (unless  the  Lord 
pour  down  his  Spirit)  an  undone  generation.  Many  are 
profane,  drunkards,  swearers,  lascivious,  scoffers  at  the 
power  of  godliness,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good,  dis- 
obedient. Others  are  only  civil  and  outwardly  conformed  to 
good  order  by  reason  of  their  education,  but  never  knew 
what  the  new  birth  means."  ^  In  1721,  he  writes  thus:  "  I 
am  now  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  my  age;  and  having 
had  an  opportunity  to  converse  with  the  first  planters  of  this 
country,  and  having  been  for  sixty-five  years  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel,  I  cannot  but  be  in  the  disposition  of  those  an- 

'  Prince's  Christian  History,  vol.  i.  p.  98. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  21 

cient  men,  who  had  seen  the  foundation  of  the  first  house, 
and  wept  to  see  tlie  change  the  work  of  the  temple  had  upon 
it.  I  wish  it  were  no  other  than  the  weakness  of  Horace's 
old  man,  the  laudator  temporis  acti,  when  I  complain  there 
is  a  grievous  decay  of  piety  in  the  land,  and  a  leaving  of 
her  first  love;  and  that  the  beauties  of  holiness  are  not  to 
be  seen  as  once  they  were;  a  fruitful  Christian  grown  too 
rare  a  spectacle;  yea,  too  many  are  given  to  change,  and 
leave  that  order  of  the  Gospel  to  set  up  and  uphold  which, 
was  the  very  design  of  these  colonies;  and  the  very  inte- 
rest of  New  England  seems  to  be  changed  from  a  religious 
to  a  worldly  one."  ^  We  must,  however,  be  on  our  guard 
against  drawing  false  conclusions  from  such  statements. 
We  should  remember  how  high  was  the  standard  of  piety, 
which  such  writers  had  in  view,  and  how  peculiarly  flour- 
ishing was  the  original  condition  of  those  churches  whose 
declension  is  here  spoken  of.  There  may  have  been,  and 
doubtless  was  much  even  in  that  age,  over  which  we,  in 
these  less  religious  days,  would  heartily  rejoice.  What  was 
decay  to  them,  would  be  revival  to  us.  The  declension, 
however,  did  not  stop  at  this  stage.  The  generation  which 
succeeded  that  over  which  Increase  Mather  mourned,  de- 
parted still  further  from  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  their 
pious  ancestors.  "The  third  and  fourth  generations,"  says 
Trumbull,  "  became  still  more  generally  inattentive  to  their 
spiritual  concerns,  and  manifested  a  greater  declension  from 
the  purity  and  zeal  of  their  ancestors.  Though  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  was  not  altogether  without  success,  and 
though  there  were  tolerable  peace  and  order  in  the  churches; 
yet  there  was  too  generally  a  great  decay  as  to  the  life  and 

'  Prince,  vol.  i.  p.  103.  Tliis  writer,  in  Nos.  12,  13,  and  14,  has  collected 
many  other  testimonies  "to  the  ^reat  and  lamentable  decay  of  relig-ion"  in 
the  generations  following  the  first  settlement  of  New  England. 


22  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

power  of  godliness.  There  was  a  general  ease  and  secu- 
rity in  sin.  Abundant  were  the  lamentations  of  pious  minis- 
ters and  good  people  poured  out  before  God,  on  this  ac- 
count."^ As  a  single  example  of  such  lamentations,  we 
may  quote  the  account  of  the  state  of  reUgion  in  Taunton, 
in  1740,  as  given  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Crocker.  "The  church 
was  but  small  considering  the  number  of  inhabitants;  and 
deadness,  dulness,  formality,  and  security  prevailed  among 
them.  Any  who  were  wise  virgins  (and  I  trust  there  were 
a  few  such)  ^appeared  to  be  slumbering  and  sleeping  with 
the  foolish;  and  sinners  appeared  to  be  at  ease  in  Zion.  In 
a  word,  it  is  to  be  feared  there  was  but  little  of  the  life  or 
power  of  godliness  among  them,  and  irreligion  and  immo- 
rality of  one  kind  or  another  seemed  awfully  to  increase."^ 
The  defection  from  sound  doctrine  was  also  very  exten- 
sive at  this  period;  an  evil  which  the  revival  but  partially 
arrested,  and  that  only  for  a  few  years.  Edwards  speaks 
of  Arminianism  as  making  a  great  noise  in  the  land  in 
1734,^  and  his  biographer  says,  there  was  a  prevailing 
tendency  to  that  system,  at  that  lime,  not  only  in  the  county 
of  Hampshire,  but  throughout  the  province.*  This  tenden- 
cy was  not  confined  to  Massachusetts;  it  was  as  great,  if 
not  greater  in  Connecticut.  President  Clap,  though  himself 
a  Calvinist,  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  Yale  College  in 
1739,  "by  a  board  of  trustees  exclusively  Arminian,  and 
all  his  associates  in  office  held  the  same  tenets."^  We 
know  not  on  what  authority  this  specific  statement  rests, 
but  it  is  rendered  credible  by  other  facts.  Such  for  example 
as  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Whittelsey  at  Milford,  notwith- 

'  History  of  Connecticut,  vol.  ii.  p.  135. 

2  See  Prince,  No.  93,  and  also  Nos.  30  and  50  for  similar  accounts. 

3  Dvvight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  140. 

4  Ibid.  p.  434.  5  Ibid.  p.  211. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  23 

Standing  the  strenuous  opposition  of  a  large  minority  of 
people,  founded  on  the  belief  "that  he  was  not  sound  in  the 
faith,  but  had  imbibed  the  opinions  of  Arminius;'"  in  which 
matter  the  ordaining  council  were  fully  sustained  by  the 
Association  of  New  Haven. 

In  Scotland  there  had  been  a  general  decay  in  the  power 
of  religion  from  the  revolution  in  1688  to  the  time  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking.  In  1712  Halyburton  complained, 
upon  his  death-bed,  of  the  indifference  to  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  power  of  godliness  which  pre- 
vailed among  a  great  portion  of  the  clergy.  There  had  in- 
deed been  no  general  defection  from  the  truth  ;  though  the 
lenity  with  which  the  Assembly  treated  the  errors  of  Pro- 
fessor Simson  of  Glasgow,  and  Professor  Campbell  of  Aber- 
deen, is  appealed  to  by  the  Seceders,  in  their  Act  and 
Testimony  of  1736,  with  too  much  reason,  in  proof  of  a- 
criminal  indifference  to  the  doctrines  of  the  church.  Though 
there  had  been  extensive  revivals  in  the  West  of  Scotland 
in  1725,  and  a  most  remarkable  effusion  of  the  Spirit  at  the 
kirk  of  Shotts  in  1730,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, the  general  state  of  religion  Avas  low,  and  upon  the 
decline. 

In  England  the  case  was  far  worse.  From  the  accession 
of  Charles  II.  in  1660  and  the  exclusion  of  the  non-confor- 
mists, true  religion  seems  to  have  declined  rapidly  in  the 
established  church.  Bishop  Butler  says,  in  his  Introduction 
to  his  Analogy,  that  in  his  day  Christianity  itself  seemed  to 
be  regarded  as  a  fable  "among  all  persons  of  discernment;" 
and  in  his  first  charge  to  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Dur- 
ham he  laments  over  "the  general  decay  of  religion  in  the 
nation,"  the  influence  of  which,  he  says,  seems  to  be  wear- 
ing out  of  the  minds  of  men.=^     Before  the  rise  of  the  Me- 

'  Trumbull,  vol.  ii.  p.  335.  2  Butler's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  ^38. 


24  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

thodists,  says  John  Newton,  "  the  doctrines  of  grace  were 
seldom  heard  from  the  pulpit,  and  the  life  and  power  of 
religion  were  little  known." 

Such  in  few  words  was  the  state  of  religion  in  England, 
Scotland  and  America,  when  it  pleased  God,  contempora- 
neously in  these  several  countries,  remarkably  to  revive 
his  work.  The  earliest  manifestation  of  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  our  portion  of  the  church,  during  this  pe- 
riod, was  at  Freehold  N.  J.,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev. 
John  Tennent,  who  was  called  to  that  congregation  in 
1730,  and  died  in  1732.  "The  settling  of  that  place,"  says 
his  brother  the  Rev.  Wm, Tennent,  "with  a  gospel  ministry, 
was  owing  under  God,  to  the  agency  of  some  Scotch  peo- 
ple, that  came  to  it ;  among  whom  there  was  none  so  pains- 
taking in  this  blessed  work  as  one  Walton  Ker,  who,  in 
1685,  for  his  faithful  and  conscientious  adherence  to  God 
and  his  truth  as  professed  by  the  church  of  Scotland,  was 
there  apprehended  and  sent  to  this  country,  under  a  sen- 
tence of  perpetual  banishment.  By  which  it  appears  that 
the  devil  and  his  instruments  lost  their  aim  in  sending  him 
from  home,  where  it  is  unlikely  he  could  ever  have  been  so 
serviceable  to  Christ's  kingdom  as  he  has  been  here.  He 
is  yet  (1744)  alive;  and,  blessed  be  God,  flourishing  in  his 
old  age,  being  in  his  SSth  year." 

The  state  of  religion  for  a  time  in  this  congregation  was 
very  low.  The  labours  of  Mr.  J.  Tennent  however,  were 
greatly  blessed.  The  place  of  public  worship  was  generally 
crowded  with  people,  who  seemed  to  hear  as  for  their  lives. 
Religion  became  the  general  subject  of  discourse;  though 
all  did  not  approve  of  the  power  of  it.  The  Holy  Scriptures 
were  searched  by  people  on  both  sides  of  the  question ;  and 
knowledge  surprising  increased.     The  terror  of  God  fell 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  25 

generally  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  place,  so  that  wicked- 
ness, as  ashamed,  in  a  great  measure  hid  its  head. 

Mr,  William  Tennent,  who  succeeded  his  brother  in 
1 733  as  pastor  of  that  church,  says  the  effects  of  the  labours 
of  his  predecessor  were  more  discernible  a  few  months 
after  his  death,  than  during  his  life.  The  religious  excite- 
ment thus  commenced  continued,  with  various  alternations, 
until  1744,  the  date  of  this  account.  As  to  the  number  of 
converts,  Mr.  T.  says,  "  I  cannot  tell;  my  comfort  is,  that 
the  Lord  will  reckon  them,  for  he  knows  who  are  his." 
Those  who  were  brought  to  the  Saviour,  "were  all  pre- 
pared for  it  by  a  sharp  law-work  of  conviction,  in  discov- 
ering to  them,  in  a  heart-affecting  manner,  their  sinfulness 
both  by  nature  and  practice,  as  well  as  their  liableness  to 
damnation  for  their  original  and  actual  transgressions.  Nei- 
ther could  they  see  any  way  in  themselves  by  which  they 
could  escape  the  divine  vengeance.  For  their  whole  past 
lives  were  not  only  a  continued  act  of  rebellion  against  God, 
but  their  present  endeavours  to  better  their  state,  such  as 
prayers  and  the  like,  were  so  imperfect,  that  they  could  not 
endure  them,  and  much  less,  they  concluded,  would  a  holy 
God.  They  all  confessed  the  justice  of  God  in  their  eternal 
perdition;  and  thus  were  shut  up  to  the  blessed  necessity  of 
seeking  relief  by  faith  in  Christ  alone." 

The  sorrows  of  the  convinced  were  not  alike  in  all,  either 
in  degree  or  continuance.  Some  did  not  think  it  possi- 
ble for  them  to  be  saved,  but  these  thoughts  did  not 
continue  long.  Others  thought  it  possible,  but  not  very 
probable  on  account  of  their  vileness.  The  greatest  degree 
of  hope,  which  any  had  under  a  conviction  which  issued 
well,  was  a  may-be :  Peradventure,  said  the  sinner,  God 
will  have  mercy  on  me. 

The  conviction  of  some  was  instantaneous,  by  the  Holy 

3 


26  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Spirit  applying  the  law  and  revealing  all  the  deceit  of  their 
hearts,  very  speedily.  But  that  of  others  was  more  progres- 
sive. They  had  discovered  to  them  one  abomination  after 
another,  in  their  lives,  and  hence  were  led  to  discover  the 
fountain  of  all  corruption  in  the  heart,  and  thus  were  con- 
strained to  despair  of  life  by  the  law,  and  consequently  to 
flee  to  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  refuge,  and  to  rest  entirely 
in  his  merits. 

After  such  sorrowful  exercises,  such  as  were  reconciled 
to  God,  were  blessed  with  the  spirit  of  adoption,  enabling 
them  to  cry,  "Abba,  Father."  Some  had  greater  degrees 
of  consolation  than  others  in  proportion  to  the  clearness  of 
the  evidences  of  their  sonship.  The  way  in  which  they 
received  consolation,  was  either  by  the  application  of  some 
particular  promise  of  Scripture  ;  or  by  a  soul-affecting  view 
of  the  method  of  salvation  by  Christ,  as  free,  without  money 
and  without  price.  With  this  way  of  salvation  their  souls 
were  well  pleased,  and  thereupon  they  ventured  their  case 
into  his  hands,  expecting  help  from  him  only. 

As  to  the  effects  of  this  work  on  the  subjects  of  it,  Mr. 
Tennent  says,  they  were  not  only  made  to  know  but  hearti- 
ly to  approve  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  which 
they  were  before  either  ignorant  of,  or  averse  to  (at  least 
some  of  them);  so  that  they  sweetly  agreed  in  exalting  free, 
special,  sovereign  grace,  through  the  Redeemer ;  being  wil- 
ling to  glory  only  in  the  Lord,  who  loved  them  and  gave 
himself  for  them.  They  approved  of  the  law  of  God  after 
the  inward  man,  as  holy,  just,  and  good,  and  prized  it  above 
gold.  They  judged  it  their  duty  as  well  as  privilege  to 
wait  on  God  in  all  his  ordinances.  A  reverence  for  his 
commanding  authority  and  gratitude  for  his  love  conspired 
to  incite  them  to  a  willing,  unfeigned,  universal,  unfainting 
obedience  to  his   laws;  yet  they  felt  that  in  every  thing, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  27 

they  came  sadly  short,  and  bitterly  bewailed  their  defects. 
They  loved  all  such  as  they  had  reason  to  think,  from  their 
principles,  experience  and  practice,  were  truly  godly,  though 
they  differed  from  them  in  sentiment  as  to  smaller  matters ; 
and  looked  upon  them  as  the  excellent  of  the  earth.  They 
preferred  others  to  themselves,  in  love  ;  except  when  under 
temptation  ;  and  their  failures  they  were  ready  to  confess 
and  bewail,  generally  accounting  themselves  that  they 
were  the  meanest  of  the  family  of  God. 

Through  God's  mercy,  adds  Mr.  Tennent,  we  have  been 
quite  free  from  enthusiasm.  Our  people  have  followed  the 
Holy  law  of  God,  the  sure  word  of  prophecy,  and  not  the 
impulses  of  their  own  minds.  There  have  not  been  among 
us,  that  I  know  of,  any  visions,  except  such  as  are  by  faith; 
namely  clear  and  affecting  views  of  the  new  and  living  way 
to  the  Father  through  his  dear  Son  Jesus  Christ ;  nor  any 
revelations  but  what  have  been  long  since  written  in  the 
sacred  volume.  ^ 

The  leading  characteristics  of  this  work  were  a  deep 
conviction  of  sin,  arising  from  clear  apprehensions  of  the 
extent  and  spirituality  of  the  divine  law.  This  conviction 
consisted  in  an  humbling  sense  both  of  guilt  and  corruption. 
It  led  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  justice  of  God,  in  their 
condemnation,  and  of  their  entire  helplessness  in  themselves. 
Secondly,  clear  apprehensions  of  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  producing  a  cordial  acquiescence  in  the  plan  of  salva- 

'  Letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Prince,  of  Boston,  by  William'Tennent,  dated  Oct.  9, 
1744;  pablished  in  the  Christian  History  Nos.  90,  91,  and  reprinted  in  Gil- 
lies' Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  28.  In  the  preceding  account  the  language  of  the 
original  narrator  is  almost  uniformly  retained,  though  his  statements  arc  very 
much  abridged  and  condensed.  The  usual  indication  of  quotation,  therefore, 
has  not  been  given.  We  shall  pursue  the  same  plan  in  giving  an  account  of  the 
revival  in  other  places. 


28  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

tion  presented  in  the  Gospel,  and  a  believing  acceptance  of 
the  offers  of  mercy.  The  soul  thus  returned  to  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  depending  on  his  merits  for  the  divine  favour. 
Thirdly,  this  faith  produced  joy  and  peace;  a  sincere  ap- 
probation of  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel ;  delight  in  the  law 
of  God  ;  a  constant  endeavour  to  obey  his  will ;  love  to  the 
brethren,  and  a  habitually  low  estimate  of  themselves  and 
their  attainments.  This  surely  is  a  description  of  true 
religion.  Here  are  faith,  hope,  charity,  obedience  and  hu- 
mility, and  where  these  are,  there  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  for 
these  are  his  fruits. 

The  revival  in  Lawrence,  Hopewell,  and  Amwell,  three 
contiguous  towns  in  New  Jersey,  commenced  under  the 
ministry  of  Rev.  John  Rowland,  of  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick.  As  the  churches  in  two  of  these  towns  belong- 
ed to  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  as  a  large  portion 
of  the  people  did  not  unite  in  the  call  to  Mr.  Rowland,  he 
at  first  preached  in  barns.  In  1744,  however,  a  new 
congregation  was  formed,  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick.  ^  According  to  the  account  of  Mr. 
Rowland,  the  revival  in  these  towns  was  at  first  slow  in  its 
progress,  one  or  two  persons  only  being  seriously  affected 
under  each  sermon.  In  the  spring  of  1739,  the  number 
increased;  and  the  power  of  the  Spirit  evidently  attended 
the  word  on  several  occasions,  until  May,  1740,  when  the 
work  became  more  extensive.  On  one  occasion  the  people 
cried  out  so  awfully  that  the  preacher  was  constrained  to 
conclude.     After  the  sermon  he  inquired  of  those  whose 

1  In  a  letter  from  Mr.  William  Temient  to  Mr.  Prince,  dated  October  11, 
1744,  he  says,  "  About  four  weeks  since,  at  the  invitation  of  the  people,  and 
desire  of  our  presbytery,  I  gathered  a  church,  and  celebrated  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per at  a  newly  erected  congregation  in  the  towns  of  Maidenhead,  (Law- 
rence,) and  Hopewell." — Christian  History,  No.  9L 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  29 

feelings  had  thus  overcome  them,  what  was  the  real  cause 
of  their  crying  out  in  such  a  manner  ?  Some  answered, 
"  They  saw  hell  opening  before  them;  and  themselves  ready 
to  fall  into  it."  Others  said,  "  The}'-  were  struck  with  such 
a  sense  of  their  sinfulness  that  they  were  afraid  the  Lord 
would  never  have  mercy  upon  them."  During  the  summer 
of  1740,  the  people,  on  several  occasions,  were  deeply  aifect- 
ed,  and  at  times  their  convictions  were  attended  with  great 
horror,  trembling,  and  loud  weeping.  Many  continued  cry- 
ing in  the  most  doleful  manner,  along  the  road,  on  their 
way  home,  and  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  man  to  restrain 
them,  for  the  word  of  the  Lord  remained  like  fire  upon  their 
hearts.  Of  those  who  were  thus  affected  by  a  sense  of  their 
guilt  and  danger,  many  became  to  all  appearance,  true 
Christians;  many  went  back,  and  became  stiff-necked. 
The  number  in  the  latter  class  was  small,  Mr.  Rowland 
says,  in  comparison  to  what  he  had  seen  in  most  other 
places  of  his  acquaintance.  Those  who  were  regarded  as 
real  converts  gave  a  very  distinct  account  of  sin  both  origi- 
nal and  actual.  Their  views  of  the  corruption  of  their  own 
hearts,  and  of  their  distance  from  God,  were  very  clear  and 
affecting.  Their  hardness,  unbehef,  ignorance,  and  blind- 
ness pressed  very  heavily  upon  them.  Their  apprehension 
of  their  need  of  Christ,  and  of  his  Spirit,  was  such  that  they 
could  find  rest  or  contentment  in  nothing,  until  they  had 
obtained  an  interest  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  received  his 
Spirit  to  sanctify  their  hearts.  Those  under  conviction  were 
very  watchful  over  themselves,  lest  they  should  receive 
false  comfort,  and  thus  rest  in  unfounded  hopes.  Their 
views  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  to  his  person,  nature,  and  offices, 
and  of  the  actings  of  their  own  faith  and  love  towards 
him,  were  clear  and  satisfactory.     They  continued,  until 


30  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  date  of  this  account,  careful  to  maintain  a  holy  commu- 
nion with  God,  in  the  general  course  of  their  lives,  were 
zealous  for  his  truth,  and  walked  steadily  in  his  ways.  ^ 

Here,  as  in  the  case  of  Freehold,  are  to  be  recognised  the 
essential  features  of  a  genuine  revival,  conviction  of  sin, 
faith  in  Christ,  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  and  a  holy  life. 
There  was,  however,  apparently,  a  greater  admixture  of 
mere  animal  feeling  in  this  than  in  the  preceding  case. 

In  Newark  and  Elizabethtown,  according  to  President 
Dickinson,  religion  was  in  a  very  low  state  until  1739.  In 
August  of  that  year  a  remarkable  revival,  especially  among 
the  young,  commenced  in  Newark,  which  continued  and 
increased  during  the  months  of  November,  December,  and 
January  following.  There  was  a  general  reformation 
among  the  young  people,  who  forsook  the  taverns  and 
other  places  of  amusement.  All  occasions  for  public  wor- 
ship were  embraced  with  gladness.  Great  solemnity  and 
devout  attention  were  manifested  in  their  assemblies.  In 
March  the  whole  town  was  brought  under  an  uncommon 
concern  about  eternal  things ;  which,  during  the  summer, 
sensibly  abated,  though  it  did  not  entirely  die  away.  No- 
thing remarkable  occurred  until  February,  1741,  when  they 
were  again  visited  with  the  special  effusion  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  A  plain,  femiliar  sermon  then  preached,  without  any 
peculiar  terror,  fervour,  or  affectionate  manner  of  address, 
was  set  home  with  power.  Many  were  brought  to  see  and 
feel  that  till  then  they  had  no  more  than  a  name  to  live; 
and  professors  in  general  were  put  upon  solemn  inquiry 
into  the  foundation  of  their  hope.  During  the  following 
summer,  this    religious    concern    sensibly  decayed;    and, 

'  Letter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Rowland  to  Mr.  Fo.xcrofl,  of  Boston,  printed  at  Phila- 
delphia, in  1745,  and  reprinted  in  Gillies'  Collections,  vol.  ii.  p.  132, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  3J 

though  the  sincere  converts  held  fast  their  profession  with- 
out wavering,  too  many  of  those  who  had  been  under  con- 
viction, grew  careless  and  secure.  What  seemed  greatly  to 
contribute  to  this  growing  security,  was  the  pride,  false  and 
rash  zeal,  and  censoriousness  among  some  who  made  high 
pretences  to  religion.  This  opened  the  mouths  of  many 
against  the  whole  work,  and  raised  that  opposition  which 
■was  not  before  heard  of  Almost  every  body  seemed  to 
acknowledge  the  finger  of  God  in  those  wonderful  appear- 
ances, until  this  handle  was  given  to  their  opposition. 
And  the  dreadful  scandals  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  C,  which  came  to 
light  about  this  time,  proved  a  means  to  still  further  harden 
many  in  their  declension  and  apostasy.  That  unhappy 
gentleman  having  made  such  high  pretensions  to  extraor- 
dinary piety  and  zeal,  his  scandals  gave  the  deeper  wound 
to  vital  and  experimental  godliness. 

Thus  far  regarding  Newark.  In  the  fall  of  1739,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  preached  in  Elizabethtown  to  a  nume- 
rous and  attentive  audience,  but  without  any  marked  result. 
There  was  no  apparent  success  attending  the  labours  of  Mr. 
Dickinson  during  that  winter;  which  severely  tried  his  faith 
and  patience,  as  the  neighbouring  town  was  then  so  remark- 
ably visited.  In  June,  1740,  he  invited  the  young  people 
to  hear  a  discourse  designed  particularly  for  their  benefit. 
A  large  congregation  assembled,  and  he  preached  a  plain, 
practical  sermon,  without  any  special  liveliness  or  vigour, 
as  he  was  himself  in  a  remarkably  dull  frame,  until  enliven- 
ed by  a  sudden  and  deep  impression  which  visibly  appeared 
on  the  whole  congregation.  There  was  no  crying  out,  or 
falling  down,  (as  elsewhere  happened,)  but  the  distress  of 
the  audience  discovered  itself  by  tears  and  by  audible  sob- 
bing and  sighing  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  house.  From 
tliis  time  the  usual  amusements  of  the  young  were  laid 


32  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

aside,  and  private  meetings  for  religious  exercises  were 
instituted  by  them  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  PubUe 
worship  was  constantly  attended  in  a  very  solemn  manner 
by  the  people  generally.  More  persons  applied,  in  a  single 
day,  during  this  period,  to  their  pastor  for  spiritual  direction, 
than  in  half  a  year  before.  In  another  letter,  dated  Sep- 
tember 4,  1740,  Mr.  Dickinson  says:  "I  have  had  more 
young  people  address  me  for  direction  in  their  spiritual  con- 
cerns within  these  three  months  than  within  thirty  years 
before."  Though  there  were  so  many  brought  under  con- 
viction at  the  same  time,  there  was  little  appearance  of 
those  irregular  heats  of  which  so  much  complaint  was  made 
in  other  parts  of  the  land.  Only  two  or  three  occurrences 
of  that  nature  took  place,  and  they  were  easily  and  speedily 
regulated.  This  work  was  substantially  the  same  in  all  the 
subjects  of  it.  Some  indeed  suffered  more  than  others,  yet 
all  were  brought  under  a  deep  sense  of  sin,  guilt  and  dan- 
ger, and  none  obtained  satisfactory  discoveries  of  their 
safety  in  Christ,  till  they  were  brought  to  despair  of  all 
help  from  themselves,  and  to  feel  that  they  lay  at  the  mercy 
of  God.  There  were  no  instances  of  such  sudden  conver- 
sions, nor  of  those  ecstatic  raptures  spoken  of  in  other  places. 
Some  who  at  one  time  were  deeply  affected,  soon  wore  off 
their  impressions,  but  Mr.  Dickinson  says,  he  did  not  know 
of  any  two  persons  who  gave  reasonable  evidence  of  con- 
version, who  had  disappointed  his  hopes.  About  sixty 
persons  in  Elizabethtown,  and  a  number  in  the  adjoining 
parish,  were  regarded  as  having  experienced  a  change  of 
heart  during  this  revival.  ^ 

In  New  Brunswick  and  its  neighbourhood,  Mr.  Gilbert 
Tennent  informs  us,  the  labours  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Freling- 

'  President  Dickinson's   Letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Foxcroft,  dated  August  23, 
1743,  in  the  Christian  History,  No.  39, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  33 

liuysen,  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  had  been  much  . 
blessed,  especially  about  the  time  of  his  first  settlement  over 
that  people  in  the  year  1720.  When  Mr.  Tennent  took 
charge  of  the  presbyterian  church  in  New  Brunswick, 
about  1727,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  many  proofs  of 
the  usefulness  of  his  worthy  fellow  labourer  in  the  cause  of 
Christ.  Mr.  Tennent  was  much  distressed  at  his  own  appa- 
rent want  of  success;  for  eighteen  months  after  his  settle- 
ment, he"saw  no  evidence  that  any  one  had  been  savingly 
benefited  by  his  labours.  He  then  commenced  a  serious 
examination  of  the  members  of  his  church,  as  to  the  grounds 
of  their  hope,  which  he  found,  in  many  cases,  to  be  but 
sand.  Such  he  solemnly  warned  and  urged  to  seek  con- 
verting grace.  By  this  method  many  were  awakened,  and 
not  a  few,  to  all  appearance,  converted.  As  the  effect  of 
his  labours  increased,  adversaries  were  multiplied;  and  his 
character  was  unjustly  aspersed,  which,  however,  did  not 
discourage  him.  He  preached  much,  at  this  time,  upon 
original  sin,  repentance,  the  nature  and  necessity  of  conver- 
sion; and  endeavoured  to  alarm  the  secure  by  the  terrors 
of  the  Lord,  as  well  as  to  affect  them  by  other  topics  of  per- 
suasion. These  efforts  were  followed  by  the  conviction 
and  conversion  of  a  considerable  number  of  persons  at  vari- 
ous places,  and  at  different  times.  During  his  residence  at 
New  Brunswick  there  was  no  great  ingathering  of  souls, 
at  any  one  time,  though  there  were  frequent  gleanings  of 
a  few  here  and  there.  During  the  revival  of  1740,  New 
Brunswick,  he  says,  felt  some  drops  of  the  spreading  rain, 
but  no  general  shower.  ^ 

In  his  Journal,  under  the  date  of  November  20,  1739, 
Whitefield  has  the  following  entry,  relating  to  New  Bruns- 

'  Letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Prince,  dated,  Philadclphio,  August  24,  I14i.— Chris, 
tian  History,  Nos.  88,  89,  90. 


34  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

wick:  "  Preached  about  noon  near  two  hours,  in  worthy 
Mr.  Tennent's  meeting-house,  to  a  large  assembly  gathered 
from  all  parts.  About  3  P.  M.  I  preached  again,  and  at  7 
I  baptised  two  children  and  preached  a  third  time  with 
greater  freedom  than  at  either  of  the  former  opportunities. 
It  is  impossible  to  tell  with  what  pleasure  the  people  of 
God  heard  those  truths  confirmed  by  a  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which,  for  many  years,  had  been 
preached  by  their  own  pastor." 

With  regard  to  the  revival  at  Baskinridge,  about  twenty 
miles  to  the  north  of  New  Brunswick,  we  know  little, 
beyond  what  is  stated  in  Mr.  Whitefield's  Journal,  under  the 
date  just  quoted.  He  there  speaks  of  what  he  had  heard 
of  the  wonderful  effusions  of  the  Spirit  in  that  congrega- 
tion, of  the  frequent  sudden  conversions  which  had  there 
occurred,  &c.  &c.  These  are  all,  however,  second-hand 
reports,  on  which  little  reliance  can  be  placed,  especially  as 
the  pastor  of  that  church,  though  making  the  highest  pre- 
tensions to  zeal  and  piety,  was  left  to  bring  a  sad  disgrace 
upon  the  ministry  and  upon  the  revival  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  advocates. 

Whitefield  visited  Philadelphia  in  November,  1739.  He 
found  the  Episcopal  churches,  for  a  time,  freely  opened  to 
him.  On  one  occasion,  he  says,  "  After  I  had  done  preach- 
ing, a  young  gentleman,  once  a  minister  of  the  Church  of 
England,  but  now  secretary  to  Mr.  Penn,  stood  up,  and 
with  a  loud  voice  warned  the  people  against  the  doctrine 
which  I  had  been  delivering;  urging  that  there  was  no  such 
term  as  imputed  righteousness  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  that 
such  a  doctrine  put  a  stop  to  all  goodness.  When  he  had 
ended,  I  denied  his  first  proposition,  and  brought  a  text  to 
prove  that  imputed  righteousness  was  a  scriptural  expres- 
sion ;  but  thinking  the  church  an  improper  place  for  dispu- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  35 

tation,  I  said  no  more  at  that  time.  The  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture appointed  to  be  read  was  Jeremiah  xxiii,,  wherein  are 
the  words,  '  The  Lord  our  righteousness.'  Upon  them  I 
discoursed  in  the  afternoon,  and  showed  how  the  Lord 
Jesus  was  to  be  our  whole  righteousness;  proved  how  the 
contrary  doctrine  overthrew  divine  revelation;  answered 
the  objections  that  were  made  against  the  doctrine  of  an 
imputed  righteousness;  produced  the  Articles  of  our  Church 
to  illustrate  it;  and  concluded  with  an  exhortation  to  all,  to 
submit  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  right- 
eousness to  every  one  that  believeth.  The  word  came  with 
power.  The  church  was  thronged  within  and  without;  all 
wonderfully  attentive,  and  many,  as  I  was  informed,  con- 
vinced that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  our  righteousness." 

Whitefield's  sentiments,  manner  of  preaching,  and  clerical 
habits,  were  so  little  in  accordance  with  those  of  the  majo- 
rity of  his  Episcopal  brethren,  that  this  harmonious  inter- 
course did  not  long  continue.  Their  pulpits  were  soon 
closed  against  him,  and  he  commenced  preaching  in  the 
open  air.  One  of  his  favourite  stations  was  the  balcony  of 
the  old  court-house  in  Market  street.  Here  he  would  take 
his  stand,  while  his  audience  arranged  themselves  on  the 
declivity  of  the  hill  on  which  the  court-house  stood.  ^  The 
effects  produced  in  Philadelphia  by  his  preaching,  «  were 
truly  astonishing.  Numbers  of  all  denominations,  and 
many  who  had  no  connexion  with  any  denomination,  were 
brought  to  inquire,  with  the  utmost  earnestness,  what  they 
must  do  to  be  saved.     Such  was  the  eagerness  of  the  mul- 

'  It  is  said  that  his  voice  was  so  distinct,  that  every  word  he  uttered, 
while  preaching  from  the  court-house,  coidd  be  heard  by  persons  in  a  vessel 
at  Market  street  wharf,  a  distance  of  more  than  four  hundred  feet.  It  is 
even  stated  that  his  voice  was  heard  on  the  Jersey  shore,  a  distance  of  at 
least  a  mile. —  Gillies''  Life  of  Whitejield,  p.  39. 


36  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

titiide  for  spiritual  instruction,  that  there  was  public  worship 
regularly  twice  a  day  for  a  year;  and  on  the  Lord's  day,  it 
was  celebrated  thrice,  and  frequently  four  times."  ^ 

During  the  winter  of  1739-40,  Whitefield  visited  the 
South,  and  returned  to  Philadelphia  by  sea  the  following 
spring.  His  friends  now  erected  a  stage  for  him  on  what 
was  called  Society  Hill,  where  he  preached  for  some  time 
to  large  and  deeply  affected  audiences.  When  he  left  the 
city,  he  urged  his  followers  to  attend  the  ministry  of  the 
Tennents  and  their  associates.  These  gentlemen,  accord- 
ingly, continued  to  labour  among  the  people,  and  thus  che- 
rished and  extended  the  impressions  produced  by  White- 
field's  preaching.  In  the  course  of  this  year  he  collected 
funds  for  the  erection  of  a  permanent  building  for  the  use 
of  itinerant  ministers.  This  house  afterwards  became  the 
seat  of  the  college,  and  subsequently,  university  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Here  Wliitefield  preached  whenever  he  visited 
the  city,  and  here  his  associates,  especially  the  Tennents, 
and  Messrs  Rowland,  Blair,  and  Finley,  ministered  during 
his  absence. 

In  1743,  the  people  who  had  been  accustomed  to  attend 
upon  the  occasional  ministrations  of  the  above  named  gen- 
tlemen, determined  to  form  themselves  into  a  church,  and 
to  call  a  stated  pastor.  They  accordingly  presented  a  call  to 
the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  who  accepted  their  invitation,  and 
was  installed  over  them  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick. In  the  letter  already  quoted,  Mr.  Tennent,  after 
speaking  of  the  low  state  of  religion  in  Philadelphia,  before 
the  visits  of  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  of  the  immediate  effects  of 
his  preaching,  says,  that  though  some,  who  were  then  awa- 
kened had  lost  their  seriousness,  and  others  fallen  into  erro- 
neous doctrines,  yet  many  gave  every  rational  evidence  of 

'  Memoirs  of  Mrs.  Hannah  Hodge,  Philadelphia,  1806. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  37 

being  true  Christians.  That  some  should  have  been  led 
astray  by  the  fair  speeches  and  cunning  craftiness  of  those 
that  lie  in  wait  to  deceive,  he  thought  was  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  considering  that  the  greater  portion  of  them  had 
not  had  the  benefit  of  a  strict  religious  education.  He  says, 
he  knew  of  none,  who  had  been  well  acquainted  with  the 
doctrines  of  religion,  in  their  connexion,  and  established  in 
them,  who  had  been  thus  turned  aside. 

In  May,  1744,  he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  his 
people  for  the  first  time,  as  a  distinct  church.  The  number 
of  communicants  was  above  one  hundred  and  forty,  almost 
all  of  whom  were  the  fruits  of  the  recent  revival.  Besides 
these,  many  others  connected  with  other  churches,  were 
regarded  as  Mr.  Whitefield's  converts.  Mr.  Tennent  con- 
cludes his  account  by  stating,  that  though  there  was  a  con- 
siderable falling  ofi"  in  the  liveliness  of  the  religious  feeling 
of  the  people,  yet  they  were  growing  more  humble  and 
merciful,  and  that  their  whole  conversation  made  it  evi- 
dent that  the  bent  of  their  hearts  was  towards  God.  ^ 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Blair  gives  substantially  the  following 
account  of  the  revival  in  New  Londonderry,  (Fagg's  Ma- 
nor,) in  Pennsylvania.     The  congregation  was  formed  in 
that  place  nbout  the  year  1725,  and  consisted,  as  did  all 
the  Presbyterian  churches  in  Pennsylvania,  with  two  or 
three  exceptions,  of  emigrants   from  Ireland.     Mr.  Blair, 
who  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  at  Londonderry, 
was  installed  there,  November,  1739.     During  that  winter 
some  four  or  five  persons  were  brought  under  deep  convic- 
tions; and  in  the  following  March,  during  a  temporary 
absence  of  the  pastor,  while  a  neighbouring  minister  was 
preaching  in  his  place,  such  a  powerful   impression  was 
made  upon  the  people,  that  some  of  them  broke  out  into 

'  Letter  to  Mr.  Prince,  No.  89. 
4 


38  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

audible  crying;  a  thing  previously  unknown  in  that  part 
of  the  country.  A  similar  effect  was  produced  by  the  first 
sermon  preached  by  Mr.  Blair,  after  his  return.  The  num- 
ber of  the  awakened  now  increased  very  fast,  and  the  Sab- 
bath assemblies  were  exceedingly  large,  people  coming 
from  all  quarters  to  a  place  where  there  was  an  appearance 
of  the  divine  presence  and  power.  There  was  scarcely  a 
sermon  preached  during  that  summer  without  manifest  evi- 
dence of  a  deep  impression  being  made  upon  the  hearers. 
Often  this  impression  was  very  great  and  general ;  some 
would  be  overcome  to  fainting;  others  deeply  sobbing; 
others  crying  aloud;  while  others  would  be  weeping  in 
silence.  In  some  few  cases  the  exercises  were  attended  by 
strange  convulsive  agitations  of  the  body.  It  was  found 
that  the  greater  portion  of  those  thus  seriously  affected, 
were  influenced  by  a  fixed  and  rational  conviction  of  their 
dangerous  condition. 

The  general  behaviour  of  the  people  was  soon  very 
manifestly  altered.  Those  who  were  concerned,  spent 
much  time  in  reading  the  Bible  and  other  good  books,  and 
it  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  the  people  to  find  how  exactly 
the  doctrines  which  they  daily  heard  preached  to  them, 
agreed  with  those  taught  by  godly  men,  in  other  places  and 
in  former  times.  Mr.  Blair  insisted  much  in  his  preaching 
upon  the  miserable  state  of  man  by  nature,  on  the  way  of 
recovery  through  Jesus  Christ,  on  the  nature  and  necessity 
of  faith,  warning  his  hearers  not  to  depend  upon  their 
repentance,  prayers,  or  reformation;  nor  to  seek  peace  in 
extraordinary  ways,  by  visions,  dreams,  or  immediate  inspi- 
rations, but  by  an  understanding  view  and  believing  per- 
suasion of  the  way  of  life,  as  revealed  in  the  gospel,  through 
the  suretiship — obedience  and  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  39 

His  righteousness  they  were  urged  to  accept  as  the  only 
means  of  justification  and  life. 

Many  of  those  who  were  convinced,  soon  gave  satisfac- 
tory evidence  that  God  had  brought  them  to  a  saving  faith 
in  Christ.  In  most  cases,  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  use 
for  this  purpose  some  particular  passage  of  the  Scriptures, 
some  promise,  or  some  declaration  of  the  way  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ.  In  others,  there  was  no  such  promi- 
nence in  the  mind  of  the  inquirer,  given  to  any  one  parti- 
cular passage.  Those  who  experienced  such  remarkable 
relief,  could  not  only  give  a  rational  account  of  the  change 
in  their  feelings,  but  also  exhibited  the  usual  fruits  of  a 
genuine  faith ;  particularly  humility,  love,  and  affectionate 
regard  to  the  will  and  honour  of  God.  Much  of  their 
exercises  was  in  self-abasing  and  self-loathing,  and  admir- 
ing the  astonishing  condescension  and  grace  of  God  towards 
those  who  were  so  unworthy.  They  freely  and  sweetly 
chose  the  way  of  his  commands,  and  were  desirous  to  live 
according  to  his  will,  and  to  the  glory  of  his  name.  There 
were  others,  who  had  no  such  lively  exercises,  and  yet 
gave  evidence  of  faith  in  Christ,  though  it  was  not  attend- 
ed with  such  a  degree  of  liberty  and  joy.  Such  persons, 
however,  generally  long  continued  to  be  suspicious  of  their 
own  case. 

As  to  the  permanent  results  of  this  work,  it  is  stated,  that 
those  who  had  merely  some  slight  impressions  of  a  religi- 
ous character,  soon  lost  them;  and  some  who  were  for  a 
time  greatly  distressed,  seemed  to  have  found  peace  in 
some  other  way  than  through  faith  in  Christ.  There  were, 
however,  a  considerable  number  who  gave  scriptural  evi- 
dence of  having  been  savingly  renewed.  Their  walk  was 
habitually  tender  and  conscientious;  their  carriage  towards 
their  neighbours  was  just  and  kind,  and  they  had  a  pecu- 


40  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

liar  love  to  all  who  bore  the  image  of  God.  They  endea- 
voured to  live  for  God,  and  were  much  grieved  on  account 
of  their  imperfections,  and  the  plague  of  their  hearts. 
Entire  harmony  prevailed  in  the  congregation.  Indeed 
there  was  scarcely  any  open  opposition  to  the  work  from 
the  beginning,  though  some  few  of  the  people  withdrew, 
and  joined  the  ministers  who  unhappily  opposed  the  re- 
vival. 

During  the  summer  of  1740,  the  shower  of  divine  influ- 
ence spread  extensively  through  Pennsylvania,  and  beyond 
the  borders  of  that  province.  Certain  ministers  distinguish- 
ed for  their  zeal,  were  earnestly  sought  for  in  all  direc- 
tions; vacant  congregations  solicited  their  services;  and 
even  some  of  the  clergy  who  were  not  disposed  heartily  to 
co-operate  in  the  work,  yielded  to  the  importunity  of  their 
people,  and  invited  those  ministers  to  visit  their  congrega- 
tions. Great  assemblies  would  ordinarily  meet  to  hear 
them,  upon  any  day  of  the  week,  and  frequently  a  surpris- 
ing power  attended  their  preaching.  Great  numbers  were 
thus  convinced  of  their  perishing  condition,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe,  that  many  were  savingly  convert- 
ed to  God.  ^ 

Among  the  places  in  Pennsylvania  particularly  favoured 
during  this  season,  were  New  Providence,  Nottingham, 
White  Clay  Creek,  and  Neshaminy.  With  regard  to  the 
first  of  these  places,  Mr.  Rowland,  who  after  leaving  New 
Jersey  laboured  much  among  those  churches,  says,  that  it 
was  while  he  was  travelling  among  them  that  God  chose 
as  the  time  of  their  ingathering  to  Christ,  and  that  since  he 
laboured  statedly  among  those  people  he  was  as  much 
engaged  in  endeavouring  to  build  up  those  who  had  been 

'  Letter  of  Mr.  Blair  to  I"  r.  Prince,  dated  August  6,  1744,  Christian  His- 
tory, No.  63;  published  also  in  Mr.  Blair's  Works,  p.  336. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  '         4J 

called  into  fellowship  with  God,  as  to  awaken  and  con- 
vince the  careless.  "  As  to  their  conviction,  and  conversion 
unto  God,"  he  adds,  "  they  are  able  to  give  a  scriptural 
account  of  them.  I  forbear  to  speak  of  many  extraordi- 
nary appearances,  such  as  scores  crying  out  at  one  instant, 
falling,  and  fainting.  These  people  are  still  increasing, 
blessed  be  the  Lord,  and  are  labouring  to  walk  in  commu- 
nion with  God  and  one  another."  ^ 

Whitefield  mentions  his  having  preached  at  Neshaminy 
on  the  23d  of  April,  1740,  to  more  than  five  thousand  per- 
sons;  "upwards  of  fifty,"  he  adds,  "I  hear,  have  lately 
been  brought  under  conviction  of  sin  in  this  place."     With 
regard   to   Nottingham  he    gives   the    following  account. 
"There  a  good  work  had  begun  sometime  ago,  by  the 
ministry  of  Mr.  Blair,  Messrs.  Tennent,  and  Mr.  Cross ;  the 
last  of  whom  was  denied  the  use  of  the  pulpit,  and  was 
obliged  to  preach  in  the  woods,  where  the  Lord  manifested 
his  glory  and  caused  many  to  cry  out,  what  shall  we  do  to 
be  saved?  It  surprised  me  to  see  such  a  multitude  gathered 
together  at  so  short  a  notice,  in  such  a  desert  place.     I 
believe  there  were  near  twelve  thousand  hearers.     I  had 
not  spoken  long,  when  I  perceived  numbers  melting.     And 
as  I  preached,  the  power  increased,  till  at  last,  both  in  the 
morning  and  afternoon,  thousands  cried  out,  so  that  they 
almost  drowned  my  voice.     Never  before  did  I  see  a  more 
glorious  sight.     0  what  strong  crying  and  tears  were  shed 
and  poured  forth  after  the  dear  Lord  Jesus!  Some  fainted; 
and  when  they  had  got  a  little  strength,  would  hear  and 
faint  again.     Others  cried  out  in  a  manner  almost  as  if  they 
were  in  the  sharpest  agonies  of  death.     I  think  I  was  never 
myself  filled  with  greater  power.     After  I  had  finished  my 
last  discourse,  I  was  so  pierced,  as  it  were,  and  overpow- 

1  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  324. 

4* 


42  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

ered  with  God's  love,  that  some  thought,  I  believe,  that  I 
was  about  to  give  up  the  ghost."  The  next  day  he 
preached  at  Fagg's  Manor,  where  the  congregation  was 
nearly  as  large  as  it  had  been  at  Nottingham,  and  "the 
commotion  in  the  hearts  of  the  people"  as  great,  if  not 
greater. 

It  is  evident  there  must  have  been  an  extraordinary 
influence  on  the  minds  of  the  people  to  produce  such  vast 
assemblies,  and  such  striking  effects  from  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  there  was 
much  that  was  rational  and  scriptural  in  the  experience  of 
the  persons  thus  violently  agitated;  yet  there  can  be  as 
little  doubt  that  much  of  the  outward  eftect  above  described, 
was  the  result  of  mere  natural  excitement,  produced  by 
powerful  impressions  made  upon  excited  imaginations  by 
the  fervid  eloquence  of  the  preacher,  and  propagated  through 
the  crowd  by  the  mysterious  influence  of  sympathy. 

Mr.  Whitefield  preached  in  New  York  repeatedly,  during 
his  second  and  third  visits  to  this  country,  and  was  kindly 
received  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pemberton,  pastor  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  that  city,  but  no  very  remarkable  re- 
sults seem  to  have  there  attended  his  ministry. 

In  no  part  of  our  country  was  the  revival  more  inte- 
resting, and  in  very  few  was  it  so  pure  as  in  Virginia. 
The  state  of  religion  in  that  province  was  deplorable. 
There  was  "a  surprising  negligence  in  attending  public 
worship,  and  an  equally  surprising  levity  and  unconcern- 
edness  in  those  that  did  attend.  Family  religion  a  rarity, 
and  a  solemn  concern  about  eternal  things  a  greater.  Vices 
of  various  kinds  triumphant,  and  even  a  form  of  godliness 
not  common."  ^  "  Much  the  larger  portion  of  the  clergy 
were,  at  this  time,  deficient  in  the  great  duty  of  placing 

'  Davies'  Letter  to  Mr.  Bellamy,  Gillies'  Collection,  vol.  ii.  p.  330. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4o 

distinctly  before  the  people,  the  fundamental  truths  of  the 
gospel."  ^  Various  circumstances  had  conspired  to  supply 
the  established  church  of  Virginia  with  ministers  unfitted 
for  their  stations;  and  under  the  influence  of  men  unquali- 
fied to  be  either  the  teachers  or  examples  of  their  flocks, 
religion  had  been  reduced  to  a  very  low  state.  There  were 
indeed  some  faithful  ministers,  and  some  who  were  sin- 
cerely seeking  the  Lord  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of 
England.  ^  Still  all  accounts  agree  as  to  the  general  pre- 
valence of  irreligion  among  both  the  clergy  and  the  laity. 

It  seems  that  even  before  the  year  1740,  some  persons 
had  been  led,  partly  by  their  own  reflections,  and  partly  by 
the  perusal  of  some  of  the  writings  of  Flavel  and  others,  to 
feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  concerns  of  religion.  This  was 
the  case  particularly  with  Mr.  Samuel  Morris,  who  having 
obtained  relief  to  his  own  mind,  became  anxious  for  the 
salvation  of  his  neighbours.  He  accordingly  began  to  read 
to  them  the  works  which  he  had  found  so  useful  to  himself, 
especially  Luther  on  the  Galatians.  In  the  year  1740,  Mr. 
Whitefield  preached  at  Williamsburg.  Though  the  little 
company,  of  which  Mr.  Morris  was  the  centre,  did  not  enjoy 
the  advantage  of  hearing  Mr.  Whitefield  preach,  his  visit 
awakened  interest  in  the  man,  and  prepared  them  to  receive 
his  writings  with  favour.  Accordingly,  when  in  1743,  a 
volume  of  his  sermons  was  brought  into  the  neighbourhood, 
Mr.  Morris  invited  his  friends  to  meet  and  hear  them  read. 
A  considerable  number  of  persons  attended  for  this  purpose 
every  Sabbath,  and  frequently  on  other  days,  Mr.  Morris' 
dwelling  being  too  small  to  accommodate  his  audience,  a 
meeting-house  was  soon  erected,  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
reading;  not  being  accustomed  to  extempore  prayer,  no  one 

'  Hawks'  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.  p.  115,  2  Davics'  Narrative. 


44  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  the  company  had  courage  to  attempt  to  lead  in  that  exer- 
cise. The  attention  thus  excited  gradually  diffused  itself, 
so  that  Mr.  Morris  was  frequently  invited  to  distant  places 
to  read  his  sermons  to  the  people.  These  meetings  soon 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  magistrates,  and  those  who 
frequented  them  were  called  upon  to  account  for  their  non- 
attendance  on  the  services  of  the  established  church,  and  to 
state  to  what  denomination  of  Christians  they  belonged. 
This  latter  demand  puzzled  them  not  a  little.  The  only 
dissenters  of  whom  they  knew  any  thing  were  Quakers, 
and  as  they  were  not  Quakers,  they  could  not  tell  what  they 
were.  At  length  recollecting  that  Luther  was  a  great 
reformer,  and  that  his  writings  had  been  particularly  ser- 
viceable to  them,  they  determined  to  call  themselves  Luthe- 
rans. About  this  time,  the  Rev.  William  Robinson,  on  a 
mission  from  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  visited 
that  part  of  Virginia.  He  founded  a  church  in  Lunenburg, 
and  preached  with  much  success.  Also  in  Amelia  Mr. 
Morris  and  his  friends  begged  him  to  preach  in  their  read- 
ing house,  an  invitation  which  he  gladly  accepted.  "  The 
congregation,"  says  Mr.  Morris,  "was  large  the  first  day, 
and  vastly  increased  the  three  ensuing  ones.  It  is  hard  for 
the  liveliest  imagination  to  form  an  image  of  the  condition 
of  the  assembly  on  those  glorious  days  of  the  Son  of  man. 
Such  of  us  as  had  been  hungering  for  the  word  before, 
were  lost  in  agreeable  astonishment,  and  could  not  refrain 
from  publicly  declaring  our  transport.  We  were  over- 
whelmed with  the  thoughts  of  the  unexpected  goodness  of 
God,  in  allowing  us  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  in  a 
manner  which  surpassed  our  hopes.  Many  that  came  from 
curiosity  were  pricked  in  the  heart,  and  but  few  in  the 
numerous  assemblies  appeared  unaffected."  Soon  after 
Mr.   Robinson's  departure,  the   Rev.    John  Blair   visited 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  45 

them,  when  former  impressions  were  revived  and  new  ones 
made  in  many  hearts.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Roan,  who  was  sent  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Castle,  and 
continued  with  them  longer  than  either  of  the  others.  The 
good  effects  of  this  gentleman's  labours  were  very  appa- 
rent. He  was  instrumental  in  beginning  and  promoting  a 
religious  concern,  in  many  places  where  there  was  little 
appearance  of  it  before.  "  This,  together  with  his  speaking 
pretty  freely  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  clergy  in  this  colony," 
says  Mr.  Morris,  "  gave  a  general  alarm,  and  some  mea- 
sures were  concerted  to  suppress  us.  To  increase  the 
indignation  of  the  government  the  more,  a  perfidious  wretch 
deposed,  that  he  heard  Mr.  Roan  utter  blasphemous  expres- 
sions in  his  sermon.  An  indictment  was  accordingly  drawn 
up  against  Mr.  R.,  though  he  had  by  that  time  departed 
the  colony,  and  some  who  had  invited  him  to  preach  at 
their  houses,  were  cited  to  appear  before  the  general  court, 
and  two  of  them  were  fined."  The  indictment,  however, 
against  Mr.  Roan  was  dropped,  the  witnesses  cited  against 
him  testifying  in  his  favour,  and  his  accuser  fled  the  pro- 
vince. Still  as  the  opposition  of  those  in  authority  con- 
tinued, and  "all  circumstances  seeming  to  threaten  the 
extirpation  of  religion  among  the  dissenters,"  they  deter- 
mined to  apply  to  the  synod  of  New  York  for  advice  and 
assistance.  This  application  was  made  in  1745,  when  that 
body  drew  up  an  address  to  the  Governor,  Sir  William 
Gooch,  and  sent  it  by  Messrs.  William  Tennent  and  Samuel 
Finley.  These  gentlemen  having  been  kindly  received  by 
the  governor,  were  allowed  to  preach,  and  remained  about 
a  week.  After  their  departure,  the  meetings  for  reading 
and  prayer  were  continued,  though  Mr.  Morris  was  repeat- 
edly fined  for  absenting  himself  from  church,  and  keeping 
up  unlawful  assemblies.     In   1747,  the  opposition  of  the 


46  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

government  became  more  serious,  and  a  proclamation  was 
affixed  to  the  door  of  the  meeting-house  calling  on  the 
magistrates  to  prevent  all  itinerant  preaching.     This  pre- 
vented the  usual  services  for  one  Sabbath,  but  before  the 
succeeding  Lord's  day  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davies  arrived  in  the 
neighbourhood,  having  been  sent  by  the  presbytery  of  New 
Castle,  and  legally  qualified  to  preach  according  to  the  act 
of  toleration.     He  petitioned  the  general  court  for  permis- 
sion to  officiate  in  four  meeting  houses  in  and  about  Hano- 
ver, and  his  request,  after  some  delay,  was  granted.     Ill 
health  prevented  Mr.  Davies  from  commencing  his  labours 
among  this  people  as  their  pastor,  until  the  spring  of  1748. 
In  October,  1748,  three  additional  places  of  worship  were 
licensed.     The  people  under  his  charge  were  sufficiently 
numerous,  if  compactly  situated,  to  form  three  distinct  con- 
gregations.    In  1751,  the  date  of  Mr.  Davies'  narrative, 
there  were  three   hundred  communicants  in  these  infant 
churches.     There  were  at  this  period  two  other  presbyte- 
rian  congregations,  one   in  Albemarle   and  the   other  in 
Augusta,  which  were  supplied  with  ministers  in  connexion 
with  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia.    The  presbyterians  in  Vir- 
ginia, in  connexion  with  the  Synod  of  New  York,  though 
much  more  numerous  than  those  belonging  to  the  other 
Synod,  were,  except  the  churches  in  Hanover,  destitute 
of  pastors.     President  Davies  says,  they   were   numerous 
enough  to  form  at  least  five  congregations;  three  in  Augus- 
ta, one  in  Frederick,  and  one  in  Amelia  and  Lunenburg. 
"  Were  you  a  bigot,"  says  Mr.  Davies  to  Dr.  Bellamy, 
"  you  would  no  doubt  rejoice  to  hear  that  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  dissenters  in  a  place,  where  a  few  years  ago  there 
were  not  ten; '  but  I  assure  myself  of  your  congratulations 

'  This  remarli  of  course  relates  to  Hanover,  where  President  Davies  was 
settled.  The  presbyterians  in  the  other  counties  were  principally  Scotch  and 
Irish  emigrants  from  Pennsylvania. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  47 

on  a  nobler  account,  because  a  considerable  number  of 
perishing  sinners  are  gained  to  the  blessed  Redeemer,  with 
whom,  though  you  never  see  them  here,  you  may  spend  a 
blissful  eternity.  After  all,  poor  Virginia  demands  your 
compassion;  religion  at  present  is  but  like  the  cloud  which 
Elijah's  servant  saw."  ^ 

I  Letter  of  Mr.  Davies  to  Mr.  Bellamy  dated  June  28,  1151.— Gillies'  Col- 
lections, vol.  ii.  p.  330. 

My  venerated  father  in  Christ,  Dr.  Alexander,  remarked  on  part  of  tlie 
above  narrative  in  relation  to  the  establishment  of  prcsbyterian  congregations 
in  Virginia,  that  it  would  not  be  very  intelligible  to  Virginians.  "The  coun- 
ties of  Amelia  and  Lunenburg  are  mentioned  as  the  seat  of  flourishing  con- 
gregations ;  now  those  counties  as  at  present  bounded,  have  scarcely  ever 
had  more  than  a  sprinkling  of  prcsbyterian  families.  When  Mr.  Morris' 
letter  was  written,  Cumberland  and  Prince  Edward  counties  formed  part  of 
Amelia,  and  Charlotte  of  Lunenburg,  and  these  were  the  counties  in  which 
prcsbyterian  congregations  were  planted,  and  where  they  flourish  to  this  day. 
So  also,  Augusta  at  that  time  comprehended  all  the  great  valley  from  Frede- 
rick south-westward;  since  then,  Rockbridge  on  the  south-west,  and  Buck- 
ingham on  the  north-east,  have  been  taken  off"  and  formed  into  new  counties. 
The  presbyterians  of  what  is  now  Augusta,  were  mostly  of  the  old-side,  but 
those  of  Rockbridge  were  of  the  new-side." 

Dr.  Alexander  further  remarked,  "  That  very  little  is  said  in  the  above 
narrative,  concerning  the  labours  of  Mr.  Davies.  He,  in  his  modesty,  speaks 
as  if  Mr.  Robinson  had  converted  more  souls  in  a  few  days,  than  he  in  eight 
years.  But  I  can  bear  witness,  that  half  a  century  after  Mr.  Davies'  depar- 
ture, I  met  with  numerous  Christians  of  eminent  piety,  who  acknowledged 
him  as  the  instrument  of  their  awakening.  Every  spring  and  fall  he  was 
accustomed  to  take  an  extensive  tour  for  preaching.  He  generally  preached 
in  the  woods  to  numerous  congregations,  and  multitudes  were  benefitted 
savingly  by  him,  of  whom  he  never  knew  any  thing.  He  was  also  very 
attentive  to  the  blacks,  and  had  many  of  them  taught  to  read ;  and  by  the 
assistance  of  the  society  in  London  for  propagating  Christianity,  he  supplied 
them  with  Bibles  and  Watts'  Hymns.  I  knew  three  old  men,  born  in  Africa, 
brought  over  when  boys,  who  were  members  of  his  church,  and  could  all 
read  and  were  eminent  for  piety.  There  is  no  where  in  print  any  just 
account  of  Mr.  Davies'  evangelical  labours  in  Virginia.  While  he  preached 
faithfully,  he  conducted  himself  with  so  much  dignity,  affability,  and  pru- 


48  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

While  the  revival  was  thus  extending  itself  through 
almost  all  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  was  perhaps 
still  more  general  and  remarkable  throughout  New  Eng- 
land.    In   Northampton,  where    President   Edwards  had 
been  settled  since  1726,  there  had  been  a  revival  in  1734 — 
35,  which  extended  more  or  less  through  Hampshire  coun- 
ty, and  to  many  adjoining  places  in  Connecticut.  ^     In  the 
spring  of  1740,  before  the  visit  of  Mr.  Whitefield,  there  was 
a  growing  seriousness  through  the  town,  especially  among 
the  young  people.    When  that  gentleman  came  to  the  place 
in  October,  he  preached  four  or  five  sermons  with  his  usual 
force  and  influence.     In  about  a  month  there  was  a  great 
alteration  in  the  town,  both  in  the  increased  fervour  and 
activity   of  professors  of  religion,  and  in   the   awakened 
attention  of  sinners.     In  May,  1741,  a  sermon  was  preach- 
ed at  a  private  house,  when  one  or  two  persons  were  so 
affected  by  the  greatness  and  glory  of  divine  things,  that 
they  were  not  able  to  conceal  it,  the  affection  of  their  minds 
overcoming  their  strength,  and  having  an  effect  on  their 
bodies.     After  the  exercises,  the  young  people  removed  to 
another  room  to   inquire   of  those   thus  exercised,  what 
impressions    they   had  experienced.      The   affection   was 
quickly  propagated  round  the  room;  many  of  the  young 
people  and  children  appeared  to  be   overcome   with  the 
sense  of  divine  things,  and  others  with  distress  about  their 
sinfulness  and  danger,  so  that  "  the  room  was  full  of  nothing 
but  outcries,  faintings,  and  such  like."     Others  soon  came 

dence,  that  he  gained  tlic  high  respect  of  all  the  distinguished  laymen  in  that 
part  of  the  state.  "The  melancholy  decline  of  the  Hanover  congregation 
after  his  removal,  was  owing  to  a  variety  of  causes,  chiefly  to  the  emigration 
of  the  members.  Many  of  the  congregations  in  the  newer  parts  of  the  state 
were  commenced  by  members  of  his  congregation." 
1  Edwards'  Narrative,  &c.,  works,  vol.  iv.  p.  25. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  49 

to  look  on;  many  of  whom  were  overpowered  in  like  man- 
ner. The  months  of  August  and  September  of  this  year 
were  most  remarkable  for  the  number  of  convictions  and 
conversions,  for  the  revival  of  professors,  and  for  the  exter- 
nal effects  of  this  state  of  excitement.  It  was  no  uncom- 
mon thing  to  see  a  house,  as  Edwards  expresses  it,  full  of 
outcries,  faintings,  convulsions,  and  the  like,  both  from  dis- 
tress, and  also  from  admiration  and  joy.  The  work  con- 
tinued much  in  the  same  state  until  February,  1742,  when 
Mr.  Buel  came  and  laboured  among  the  people  during  a 
temporary  absence  of  the  pastor.  The  effect  of  his  preach- 
ing was  very  extraordinary.  The  people  were  greatly 
moved,  great  numbers  crying  out  during  public  worship, 
and  many  remaining  in  the  house  for  hours  after  the  ser- 
vices were  concluded.  The  whole  town  was  in  a  great  and 
continual  commotion  night  and  day.  Mr.  Buel  remained 
a  fortnight  after  Mr.  Edwards'  return,  and  the  same  effects 
continued  to  attend  his  preaching.  There  were  instances 
of  persons  lying  twenty-four  hours  in  a  trance,  apparently 
senseless,  though  mider  strong  imaginations,  as  though 
they  went  to  heaven  and  had  there  visions  of  glorious 
objects.  When  the  people  were  raised  to  this  height,  Satan 
took  the  advantage,  and  his  interpositions,  in  many  in- 
stances, soon  became  apparent,  and  a  great  deal  of  pains 
was  necessary  to  keep  the  people  from  running  wild. 

President  Edwards  states,  that  he  considered  this  revival 
much  more  pure  than  that  of  1734-5,  at  least  during  the 
years  1740,  1741,  and  the  early  part  of  1742.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  last  mentioned  year,  an  unfavourable  influence 
was  exerted  upon  the  congregation  from  abroad.  This 
remark  shows  that  he  did  not  consider  the  scenes  which  he 
describes  as  attending  Mr.  Buel's  preaching,  as  afiording 
any  reason  to  doubt  the  purity  of  the  revival.     What  he 

5 


50  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

disapproved  of  occurred  at  a  later  period,  and  had  a  differ- 
ent origin.  When  his  people  saw  that  there  were  greater 
commotions  in  other  places,  and  when  they  heard  of  greater 
professions  of  zeal  and  rapture  than  were  common  among 
themselves,  they  thought  others  had  made  higher  attain- 
ments in  religion,  and  were  thus  led  away  by  them.  These 
things  plainly  show,  says  Mr.  Edwards,  that  the  degree 
of  grace  is  not  to  be  judged  by  the  degree  of  zeal  or  joy; 
that  it  is  not  the  strength,  but  the  nature  of  religious  aifec- 
tions  which  is  to  be  regarded.  Some,  who  had  the  highest 
raptures,  and  the  greatest  bodily  exercises,  showed  the 
least  of  a  Christian  temper.  Though  there  were  few  cases 
of  scandalous  sin  among  professors,  the  temper  and  beha- 
viour of  some,  he  adds,  led  him  to  fear  that  a  considerable 
number  were  awfully  deceived.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  many  whose  temper  was  truly  Christian;  and  the 
work,  notwithstanding  its  corrupt  admixtures,  produced 
blessed  fruit  in  particular  persons,  and  some  good  effects  in 
the  town  in  general.  ^ 

If  such  scenes  as  those  just  referred  to  occurred  in  North- 
ampton, under  the  eye  of  President  Edwards,  we  may 
readily  imagine  what  was  likely  to  occur  in  other  places 
under  men  far  his  inferiors  in  judgment,  knowledge,  and 
piety.  Though  Edwards  never  regarded  these  outcries, 
and  bodily  affections,  as  any  evidence  of  true  religious 
affections,  he  was  at  this  time  much  less  sensible  of  the 
danger  of  encouraging  such  manifestations  of  excitement? 
than  he  afterwards  became.  Nor  does  he  seem  to  have 
been  sufficiently  aware  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  nervous 
disorders,  which  in  times  of  excitement  are  as  infectious  as 
any  form  of  disease  to  which  the  human  system  is  liable. 

'  Letter  of  Mr.  Edwards  to  Mr.  Prince,  dated  December  12,  1743.  Chris- 
tian  History,  No.  46,  and  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  IGO. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  51 

When  he  speaks  of  certain  persons  being  seized  with  a 
strange  bodily  affection,  which  quickly  propagated  itself 
round  the  room,  especially  among  the  young;  and  of  spec- 
tators, after  a  while,  being  similarly  affected,  he  gives  as 
plain  an  example  of  the  sympathetic  propagation  of  a  nerv- 
ous disorder,  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  medical  records  of 
disease.  There  may  have  been,  and  no  doubt  there  was, 
much  genuine  religious  feeling  in  that  meeting,  but  these 
bodily  affections  were  neither  the  evidence,  nor,  properly 
speaking,  the  result  of  it. 

In  September  1740,  Mr.  Whitefield  first  visited  Boston, 
when  multitudes  were  greatly  affected  by  his  ministry. 
Though  he  preached  every  day,  the  houses  continued  to  be 
crowded  until  his  departure.  The  December  following, 
Mr.  G.  Tennent  arrived,  whose  preaching  was  followed  by 
still  greater  effects.  Many  hundreds,  says  Mr.  Prince,  were 
brought  by  his  searching  ministry  to  be  deeply  convinced 
of  sin;  to  have  clear  views  of  the  divine  sovereignty,  holi- 
ness, justice,  and  power;  of  the  spirituality  and  strictness  of 
the  divine  law,  and  of  the  dreadful  corruption  of  their  own 
hearts,  and  "its  utter  impotence  either  rightly  to  repent  or 
believe  in  Christ,  or  change  itself;"  of  their  utter  unwor- 
thiness  in  the  sight  of  a  righteous  God,  of  their  being 
"  without  the  least  degree  of  strength  to  help  themselves 
out  of  this  condition."  On  Monday  March  2,  1741,  Mr. 
Tennent  preached  his  farewell  sermon,  to  an  extremely 
crowded  and  deeply  affected  audience.  "  And  now  was  a 
time  such  as  we  never  knew.  Mr,  Cooper  was  wont  to 
say,  that  more  came  to  him  in  one  week,  in  deep  concern 
about  their  souls,  than  in  the  whole  twenty-four  ^'^ears  of 
his  previous  ministry."  In  three  months  he  had  six  hundred 
such  calls,  and  Mr.  Webb  above  a  thousand.  The  very 
face  of  the  town  was  strangely  altered.     There  were  some 


52  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

thousands  under  such  rehgious  impressions  as  they  never 
knew  before;  and  the  fruits  of  the  work,  says  Mr.  Cooper, 
in  1741,  as  far  as  time  had  been  allowed  to  test  them,  pro- 
mised to  be  abiding.  The  revival  in  Boston  seems  to  have 
been  much  more  pure  than  in  most  other  places,  and  it  thus 
continued  until  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Davenport  in  June,  1742. 
Mr.  Prince  says  he  met  with  only  one  or  two  persons  who 
talked  of  their  impulses,  that  he  knew  of  no  minister  who 
encouraged  reliance  on  such  enthusiastic  impressions.  "The 
doctrinal  principles,"  he  adds,  "of  those  who  continue  in 
our  congregations,  and  have  been  the  subjects  of  the  late 
revival,  are  the  same  as  they  all  along  have  been  instructed 
in,  from  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism,  which  has 
generally  been  received  and  taught  in  the  Churches  of  New 
England,  from  its  first  publication,  for  one  hundred  years 
to  the  present  day;  and  which  is  therefore  the  system  of 
doctrine  most  generally  and  clearly  declarative  of  the  faith 
of  the  New  England  Churches."  There  seems  also  to 
have  been  far  less  extravagance  in  Boston  than  attended 
the  excitement  in  most  other  places.  "We  have  neither 
had,"  says  Dr.  Colman,  "  those  outcrys  and  faintings  in 
our  assemblies,  which  have  disturbed  the  worship  in  many 
places,  nor  yet  those  manifestations  of  joy  inexpressible 
which  now  fill  some  of  our  eastern  parts."  ^ 

When  Mr.  Whitefield  left  Boston  in  October,  1740,  he 
went  to  Northampton,  preaching  at  most  of  the  intervening 
towns.  After  spending  a  few  days  with  President  Edwards, 
as  already  mentioned,  he  proceeded  to  New  Haven,  and 
thence  to  New  York,  Everywhere,  during  this  journey, 
the  churches  and  houses  were  freely  opened  to  him,  and 
everywhere,  to   a  greater  or  less   degree,  his  discourses 

'  See  for  an  account  of  the  revival  in  Boston,  Prince's  Christian  History, 
No.  100,  &LC.;  or  Gillies,  vol,  ii.  p.  162, 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  53 

were  attended  by  the  same  remarkable  effects  as  elsewhere 
followed  his  preaching.     Mr.  Tennent  also  after  leaving 
Boston  made  an  extended  tour  through  New  England,  and 
was  very  instrumental  in  awakening  the  attention  of  the 
people.     His  stature  was  large,  and  his  whole  appearance 
commanding.     He  wore  his  hair  undressed,  and  his  usual 
costume  in  the  pulpit,  at  least  during  this  journey,  was  a 
loose  great  coat  with  a  leathern  girdle  about  his  loins.  ^     As 
a  preacher  he  had  few  equals.     His  reasoning  powers  were 
strong;  his  expressions  nervous  and  often  sublime;  his  style 
diffusive;   his  manner  warm  and  pathetic,  such  as  must 
convince  his  audience  that  he  was  in  earnest;  and  his  voice 
clear  and  commanding.  ^     "  When  I  heard  Mr.  Tennent," 
says  the  celebrated  Dr.  Hopkins,  then  a  student  in  Yale 
College,  "  I  thought  he  was  the  greatest  and  best  man,  and 
the  best  preacher  that  I  had  ever  seen  or  heard."  ^     Mr. 
Prince  of  Boston,  says,  "  he  did  not  at  first  come  up  to 
my  expectations,  but  afterwards  far  exceeded  them.     He 
seemed  to  have  as  deep  an  acquaintance  with  experimental 
religion  as  any  I  have  ever  conversed  with;  and  his  preach- 
ing was  as  searching  and  rousing  as  any  I  ever  heard." < 
Such  appears  to  have  been  the  general  style  of  his  preaching 
during   this   tour;    for  the   Rev.  W.   Fish,  in   giving  an 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  revival,  says,  "  when  the  ears 
of  the  people  were  thus  opened  to  hear,  and  their  hearts 
awake  to  receive  instruction,  there  came  a  son  of  thun- 
der. Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  through  these  parts,  by  whose 
enlightening  and   alarming  discourses,  people  were  more 
effectually  roused  up,  and  put  upon  a  more  earnest  enquiry 
after  the  great  salvation."  ^     Mr.  Tennent,  in  a  letter  to 

1  Assembly's  Magazine.  2  Funeral  discourse  by  President  Finley. 

3  Life  of  Edwards  by  DwigPit,  p.  156. 

1  Cliristian  History,  No.  100.         3  Fish's  nine  sermons,  p.  114, 

5* 


54  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Mr.  Whitefield,  dated  April,  1741,  says,  that  on  his  return 
homeward  from  Boston,  he  preached  daily,  ordinarily  three 
times  a  day,  and  sometimes  oftener,  (a  few  days  only 
excepted;)  and  that  his  success  had  far  exceeded  his 
expectations.  He  enumerates  at  least  twenty-three  towns 
in  which  he  had  thus  laboured,  and  adds,  that  on  a  mode- 
rate calculation,  "divers  thousands  had  been  awakened."^ 

The  transient  impressions,  however,  made  by  a  passing 
preacher  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  of  little  avail, 
had  they  not  been  followed  by  the  laborious  and  continued 
efforts  of  the  settled  pastors.  Such  efforts  were  in  most 
cases  made,  and  the  revival  soon  became  general  through 
almost  the  whole  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  a 
considerable  part  of  Rhode  Island.  In  Connecticut  the 
work  was  probably  more  extensive  than  in  any  other  of 
the  colonies,  and  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  labours  of 
Messrs.  Pomeroy,  Mills,  Wheelock,  and  Bellamy.  "Dr. 
Pomeroy  was  a  man  of  real  genius;  grave,  solemn,  and 
weighty  in  his  discourses,  which  were  generally  well  com- 
posed, and  delivered  with  a  great  degree  of  animation  and 
affection.  His  language  was  good,  and  he  might  be  reck- 
oned among  the  best  preachers  of  his  day."  ^  Dr.  Whee- 
lock, says  the  same  authority,  "  was  a  gentleman  of  a 
comely  figure,  of  a  mild  and  winning  aspect.  His  voice 
smooth  and  harmonious,  the  best  by  far  that  I  ever  heard. 
His  preaching  and  addresses  were  close  and  pungent,  and 
yet  winning  almost  beyond  all  comparison,  so  that  his 
audience  would  be  melted  even  to  tears  before  they  were 
aware  of  it."  Dr.  Bellamy  "  was  a  large  man  and  well 
built,  of  a  commanding  appearance.  He  had  a  smooth 
strong  voice,  and  could  fill  the  largest  house  without  any 
unnatural  effort.     He  possessed  a  truly  great  mind;  gene- 

1  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  132.  *  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  vol.  ii.  p.  157. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  55 

rally  preached  without  notes;  had  some  great  point  of  doc- 
trine commonly  to  establish,  and  would  keep  close  to  his 
subject  until  he  had  sufficiently  illustrated  it,  and  then  in 
an  ingenious,  close,  and  pungent  manner,  would  make  the 
application."  ^  Svich  were  the  more  prominent  promoters 
of  this  great  revival.  As  this  work  was  more  extensive  in 
Connecticut  than  elsewhere,  so  it  was  there  attended  with 
greater  disorders,  and  was  more  violently  opposed,  and  in 
many  cases  led  to  disastrous  separations  and  lasting  con- 
flicts. Severe  penal  laws  were  enacted  against  itinerant 
preaching;  several  ministers  were  transported  out  of  the 
colony;  others  were  deprived  of  their  salaries  or  fined. 
The  act  for  the  indulgence  of  sober  consciences  was  repealed 
in  1743,  so  that  there  "was  no  relief  for  any  persons  dis- 
senting from  the  established  mode  of  worship  in  Connec- 
ticut, but  upon  application  to  the  assembly,  who  were 
growing  more  rigid  in  enforcing  the  constitution."^  The 
General  Association  on  the  occasion  of  Whitefield's  second 
visit  in  1745,  declared  him  to  be  the  promoter,  or  at  least 
the  faulty  occasion  of  the  errors  and  disorders  which  there 
prevailed;  and  voted  that  it  was  not  advisable  for  the 
ministers  to  admit  him  into  their  pulpits,  or  for  the  people 
to  attend  his  ministrations.^ 

Notwithstanding  all  the  disorders  and  other  evils  attendant 
on  this  revival,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  a  wonderful 
display,  both  of  the  power  and  grace  of  God.  This  might 
be  confidently  inferred  from  the  judgment  of  those,  who, 
as  eye-witnesses  of  its  progress,  were  the  best  qualified  to 
form  an  opinion  of  its  character.  The  deliberate  judgment 
of  such  men  as  Edwards,  Cooper,  Colman,  and  Bellamy,  in 
New  England;  and  of  the  Tennents,  Blair,  Dickinson,  and 

'  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  vol.  ii.  p.  159. 

«  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  173,  3  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  190. 


56  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Davies,  in  the  Presbyterian  Cliurch,  must  be  received  as  of 
authority  on  such  a  subject.  These  men  were  not  errorists 
or  enthusiasts.  They  were  devout  and  sober-minded  men, 
well  versed  in  the  Scriptures  and  in  -the  history  of  rehgion. 
They  had  their  faults,  and  fell  into  mistakes ;  some  of  them 
very  grievous;  but  if  they  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  com- 
petent witnesses  as  to  the  nature  of  any  religious  excite- 
ment, it  will  be  hard  to  know  where  such  witnesses  are  to 
be  found.  Besides  the  testimony  of  these  distinguished 
individuals,  we  have  that  of  a  convention  of  about  ninety 
ministers  met  at  Boston,  July  7,  1743.  Similar  attestations 
were  published  by  several  associations  in  Connecticut  and 
elsewhere.  ^  The  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  New- 
castle, and  the  whole  synod  of  New  York,  repeatedly  and 
earnestly  bore  their  testimony  to  the  genuineness  and  value 
of  this  revival.  ^ 

We  have,  however,  ourselves  sufficient  ground  on  which 
to  form  a  judgment  on  this  subject.  We  can  compare  the 
doctrines  then  taught,  the  exercises  experienced,  and  the 
effects  produced,  with  the  word  of  God,  and  thus  learn 
how  far  the  work  was  in  accordance  with  that  infallible 
standard.  The  first  of  these  points  is  a  matter  of  primary 
importance.  It  would  be  in  vain  for  any  set  of  men  to 
expect  the  confidence  of  the  Christian  public  in  the  genuine- 
ness of  any  religious  excitement,  unless  it  could  be  shown 
that  the  truth  of  God  was  instrumental  in  its  production. 
There  have  been  great  excitements  where  Pagan,  Moham- 
medan, and  Popish  doctrines  were  preached,  but  no  one 
regards  such  excitements  with  approbation,  who  does  not  re- 
gard those  doctrines  as  true.  Any  revival,  therefore,  which 
claims  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  God,  must  show  that 
it  is  the  child  of  the  truth  of  God.     If  it  cannot  do  this,  it 

I  Prince's  History,  No.  20,  21.  2  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  318,  319. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  57 

may  safely  be  pronounced  spurious.  How  will  the  revival 
under  consideration  abide  this  test?  Is  there  any  doubt  as 
to  the  doctrines  taught  by  Whitefield,  the  Tennents,  Blair, 
Dickinson,  and  the  other  prominent  preachers  of  that  day? 
They  were  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  and  of  the 
standards  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Indeed,  these  men 
often  went  to  a  length  in  their  statements  of  the  peculiarities 
of  those  doctrines,  that  would  shock  the  delicacy  of  modern 
ears.  ^  These  great  truths  were  not  kept  under  a  bushel 
during  this  period.  They  were  prominently  presented,  and 
gave  to  the  work,  as  far  as  it  was  genuine,  its  distinctive 
character.  "  The  doctrines  preached,"  says  Trumbull,  "  by 
those  famous  men,  who  were  owned  as  the  principal  instru- 
ments of  this  remarkable  revival  of  God's  work,  were  the 
doctrines  of  the  reformers;  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  of 
regeneration  by  the  supernatural  influences  of  the  divine 
Spirit,  and  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  it,  that  any  man 
might  bear  good  fruit,  or  ever  be  admitted  into  the  king- 
dom of  God;  effectual  calling;  justification  by  faith,  wholly 
on  account  of  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ;  repen- 
tance towards  God  and  faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
the  perseverance  of  saints;  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spi- 
rit in  them,  and  its  divine  consolations  and  joys."^ 

The  contemporary  accounts  of  the  doctrines  inculcated 
by  the  zealous  preachers  of  that  day,  fully  sustain  the  state- 
ment just  quoted.  Edwards  mentions  that  his  sermon  on 
justification  by  faith,  though  it  gave  offence  to  many,  was 
greatly  blessed,  and  that  it  was  on  the  doctrine  therein 

'  See  Tennent's  Sermons,  especially  those  on  original  sin,  regeneration, 
and  the  nature  and  necessity  of  conversion:  Blair's  Works,  his  Dissertation 
on  Predestination  and  Reprobation :  President  Dickinson's  Familar  Letters; 
his  Dialogues,  his  Five  Points,  &c.  &c.  Whitcfield's  Theology  at  last  was 
such  as  to  satisfy  even  Toplady,  who  pronounced  him  a  sound  divine. 

2  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  158. 


58  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

taught,  the  revival  was  founded  in  its  beginning  and  dur- 
ing its  whole  progress.  ^  In  the  account  of  the  revival  at 
Plymouth,  we  are  told  that  the  doctrines  principally  insisted 
upon,  were  "the  sin  and  apostasy  of  mankind  in  Adam; 
the  blindness  of  the  natural  man  in  things  of  God;  the 
enmity  of  the  carnal  mind;  the  evil  of  sin,  and  the  ill  desert 
of  it;  the  utter  inability  of  fallen  man  to  relieve  himself; 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  his  righteousness,  holiness,  truth, 
power,  eternity,  and  also  his  grace  and  mercy  in  Christ 
Jesus;  the  way  of  redemption  by  Christ;  justification 
through  his  imputed  righteousness  received  by  faith,  this 
faith  being  a  gift  of  God,  and  a  living  principle  that  worketh 

'  In  that  sermon  he  teaclies  that  a  person  is  said  "to  be  justified  when  he 
is  approved  of  God  as  free  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  its  deserved  punislnnent, 
and  as  having  that  righteousness  belonging  to  iiim  that  entitles  him  to  the 
reward  of  life."  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  354.  He  argues  at  length  against  the 
opinion  that  justification  is  nothing  more  than  pardon.  He  shows  that  the 
righteousness  by  which  we  are  justified  is  not  faith,  nor  any  thing  in  us,  but 
the  righteousness  of  Christ;  that  in  order  to  our  receiving  that  righteousness 
we  must  be  united  to  him,  and  that  this  union  is  at  once  legal  and  vital. 
Without  union,  he  says,  "  our  sins  could  not  be  imputed  to  him,"  nor  his 
righteousness  to  us  :  p.  366.  This  imputation  he  extends  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ,  as  well  as  the  merit  of  his  sufferings.  "The  opposers  of  this  doc- 
trine," he  says,  "  suppose  there  is  an  absurdity  in  supposing  that  God  imputes 
Christ's  obedience  to  us;  it  is  to  suppose  that  God  is  mistaken,  and  thinks 
that  we  performed  that  obedience  which  Christ  performed.  But  why  carmot 
tliat  righteousness  be  reckoned  to  our  account,  and  accepted  for  us,  without 
any  such  absurdity?  Why  is  there  any  more  absurdity  in  it  than  in  a  mer- 
chant's transferring  a  debt  or  credit  from  one  man's  account  to  another,  so 
that  it  shall  be  accepted  as  if  that  other  had  paid  it?  Why  is  there  any  more 
absurdity  in  supposing  that  Christ's  obedience  is  imputed  to  us,  than  that  his 
satisfaction  is  imputed?  If  Christ  has  suffered  the  penalty  of  the  law  in  our 
stead,  then  it  will  follow  that  his  suffering  that  penalty  is  imputed  to  us,  that 
is,  accepted  for  us,  and  in  our  stead,  and  is  reckoned  to  our  account,  as  though 
we  had  suffered  it.  But  why  may  not  his  obeying  the  law  be  as  rationally 
reckoned  to  our  account  as  his  suffering  the  penalty  of  tlie  law?"  p.  395. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  59 

by  love;  legal  and  evangelical  repentance;  the  nature  and 
necessity  of  regeneration,  &c."  ^ 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Crocker  in  his  history  of  the  revival  at 
Taunton,  enumerates  the  doctrines  which  had  been  chiefly 
"  blessed  by  God  to  the  awakening,  convincing,  and  con- 
verting of  sinners,"  or  to  the  edification  of  believers.  His 
list  contains  all  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  gospel; 
as  original  sin,  that  all  men  by  nature  are  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins,  legally  and  spiritually  dead;  the  natural  impotence 
and  enmity  of  men  ;  their  natural  blindness  in  spiritual 
things;  the  covenant  of  works  and  of  grace;  God's  sove- 
reignty in  dispensing  grace  to  whomsoever  he  will;  justi- 
fication by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ;  the  neces- 
sity of  regeneration;  the  necessity  of  the  special  and  super- 
natural influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  the  necessity  of  aholy 
life,  &c.  &c.  2 

The  Rev.  Mr.  M'Gregore,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  preached  a  ser- 
mon on  the  trial  of  the  spirits,  which  was  subsequently 
published,  with  a  preface  by  certain  of  the  ministers  of 
Boston.  In  that  preface  it  is  said:  "As  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism  has  been  all  along  agreeable  to  the 
known  principles  of  the  New  England  churches,  and  has 
been  generally  received  and  taught  in  them  as  a  system  of 
Christian  doctrine  agreeable  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  where- 
in they  happily  unite;  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  us  that  our 
presbyterian  brethren  who  came  from  Ireland,  are  general- 
ly with  us  in  these  important  points,  as  also  in  the  particu- 
lar doctrines  of  experimental  piety  arising  from  them,  and 
the  wondrous  work  of  God  agreeable  to  them,  at  this  day 
making  its  triumphant  progress  through  the  land."     The 

'  Prince's  Christian  History,  No.  92. 
Christian  Histor\',  vol.  ii.  p.  351. 


60  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

writers  say,  that  they  rejoice  to  add  their  testimony  to  that 
of  the  author  of  the  sermon,  to  the  same  doctrines  of  grace, 
and  to  the  wondrous  works  of  God.  ^  "The  doctrines 
which  the  promoters  of  this  work  teach,"  says  the  author, 
and  by  which  he  insists  they  ought  to  be  tried,  to  know 
whether  they  are  of  God,  "are  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith.  More  particularly  these  men  are  careful  to  teach 
and  inculcate  the  great  doctrine  of  original  sin,  in  opposi- 
tion to  Pelagius,  Arminius,  and  their  respective  followers: 
that  this  sin  has  actually  descended  from  Adam,  the  natu- 
ral and  federal  head,  to  all  his  posterity  proceeding  from 
him  by  ordinary  generation;  that  hereby  the  understanding 
is  darkened,  the  will  depraved,  and  the  affections  under  the 
influence  of  a  wrong  bias,  to  that  degree  that  they  are 
utterly  indisposed  to  any  thing  that  is  spiritually  good; 
that  man,  as  a  sad  consequence  of  the  fall,  has  lost  all 
power  in  things  spiritual.  They  teach  likewise,  with  due 
care,  the  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of 
the  second  Adam,  Jesus  Christ ;  that  this  righteousness  is 
apprehended  and  applied  by  faith  alone,  without  the  deeds 
of  the  lav/;  that  the  faith  which  justifies  the  soul  is  living 
and  operative.  They  teach  that  this  faith  is  the  gift  of 
God  ;  that  a  man  cannot  believe  by  any  inherent  power  of 
his  own.  As  to  regeneration  they  hold  it  to  be  absolutely 
necessary;  that  the  tree  must  be  made  good  before  the  fruit 
be  so;  that  unless  a  man  undergo  a  supernatural  change  by 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  his  soul,  or  be  born 
of  water  and  of  spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 

>  Sermon  on  1  John  iv.  1,  preached  in  Boston,  Nov.  3,  1741,  by  Rev.  David 
McGrcgore.  The  preface  above  quoted  is  signed  by  Messrs.  Prince,  Webb, 
and  Cooper. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  61 

God."  ^  Such  were  the  doctrines  of  the  promoters  of  this 
revival,  by  which  they  wished  to  be  tried  themselves,  and 
to  have  their  work  tested.  Those  who  believe  these  doc- 
trines will  of  course  be  disposed  to  have  confidence  in  these 
men,  and  in  the  revival  which  attended  their  preaching. 
Whereas  those  who  reject  these  doctrines,  may  be  expected 
to  pronounce  the  men  nothing-doers,  passivity-preachers, 
destroyers  of  souls,  and  the  like,  and  their  work  a  mere 
delusion;  unless,  indeed,  an  exaggerated  deference  for  pub- 
lic opinion,  or  the  amiable  prejudice  of  education  should 
lead  them  still  to  laud  the  men  and  the  revival,  while  they 
condemn  the  sentiments  which  gave  both  it  and  them  their 
distinctive  character. 

The  second  criterion  of  the  genuineness  of  any  revival  is 
the  nature  of  the  experience  professed  by  its  subjects. 
However  varied  as  to  degree  or  circumstances,  the  experi- 
ence of  all  true  Christians  is  substantially  the  same.  There 
is  and  must  be  a  conviction  of  sin,  a  sense  of  ill-desert  and 
unholiness  in  the  sight  of  God;  a  desire  of  deliverance  from  \ 
the  dominion  as  well  as  penalty  of  sin;  an  apprehension  of 
the  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ;  a  cordial  acquiescence 
in  the  plan  of  redemption;  a  sincere  return  of  the  soul  to 
God  through  Christ,  depending  on  his  merits  for  accept- 
ance. These  acts  of  faith  will  ever  be  attended  with  more 
or  less  of  joy  and  peace,  and  with  a  fixed  desire  and  pur- 
pose to  live  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  The  distinct- 
ness and  strength  of  these  exercises,  the  rapidity  of  their 
succession,  their  modifications  and  combinations  admit  of 
endless  diversity,  yet  they  are  all  to  be  found  in  every  case 
of  genuine  conversion.  It  is  here  as  in  the  human  face; 
all   men  have   the   same   features,  yet  no   two  men  are 

'  See  pp.  13,  14,  of  the  sermon  for  a  full   statement  of  these  doctrines, 
which  we  have  weakened  by  abridging  them. 

6 


62  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

exactly  alike.  This  uniformity  of  religious  experience,  as 
to  all  essential  points,  is  one  of  the  strongest  collateral 
proofs  of  the  truth  of  experimental  religion.  That  which 
men  of  every  grade  of  cultivation,  of  every  period,  and  in 
every  portion  of  the  world,  testify  they  have  known  and 
felt,  cannot  be  a  delusion.  When  we  come  to  ask  what 
was  the  experience  of  the  subjects  of  this  revival,  we  find, 
amidst  much  that  is  doubtful  or  objectionable,  the  essential 
characteristics  of  genuine  conversion.  This  is  plain  from 
the  accounts  already  given,  which  need  not  be  here  re- 
peated. In  a  great  multitude  of  cases,  the  same  feelings 
were  professed  which  we  find  the  saints,  whose  spiritual 
life  is  recorded  in  the  Bible,  experienced,  and  which  the 
children  of  God  in  all  ages  have  avowed;  the  same  sense 
of  sin,  the  same  apprehension  of  the  mercy  of  God,  the 
same  faith  in  Christ,  the  same  joy  and  peace  in  believing, 
the  same  desire  for  communion  with  God,  and  the  same 
endeavour  after  new  obedience. 

Such  however  is  the  ambiguity  of  human  language,  such 
the  deceitfulness  of  the  human  heart,  and  such  the  devices 
of  Satan,  that  no  mere  detail  of  feeling,  and  especially  no 
description  which  one  man  may  give  of  the  feelings  of 
others,  can  afford  conclusive  evidence  of  the  nature  of  those 
feelings  in  the  sight  of  God.  Two  persons  may,  with 
equal  sincerity,  profess  sorrow  for  sin,  and  yet  their  emo- 
tions be  essentially  different.  Both  may  with  truth  declare 
that  they  believe  in  Christ,  and  yet  the  states  of  mind 
thereby  expressed,  be  very  dissimilar.  Both  may  have 
peace,  joy,  and  love,  yet  the  one  be  a  self-deceiver,  and  the 
other  a  true  Christian.  We  must,  therefore,  look  further 
than  mere  professions  or  detail  of  experiences,  for  evidence 
of  the  real  character  of  this  work  We  must  look  to  its 
effects.     The  only  satisfactory  proof  of  the  nature  of  any 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  63 

religious  excitement,  in  an  individual  or  a  community,  is 
its  permanent  results.  What  then  were  the  fruits  of  this 
revival?  Mr.  William  Tennent  says,  that  the  subjects  of 
this  work,  who  had  come  under  his  observation,  were 
brought  to  approve  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  to  delight 
in  the  law  of  God,  to  endeavour  to  do  his  will,  to  love  those 
who  bore  the  divine  image;  that  the  formal  had  become 
spiritual;  the  proud,  humble;  the  wanton  and  vile,  sober  and 
temperate;  the  worldly,  heavenly-minded;  the  extortioner, 
just;  and  the  self-seeker,  desirous  to  promote  the  glory  of 
God.  ^     This  account  was  written  in  1744. 

The  convention  of  ministers  that  met  in  Boston  in  1743, 
state,  that  those  who  were  regarded  as  converts,  confirmed 
the  genuineness  of  the  change  which  they  professed  to  have 
experienced,  "by  the  external  fruits  of  holiness  in  their  lives, 
so  that  they  appeared  to  those  who  had  the  nearest  access 
to  them,  as  so  many  epistles  of  Jesus  Christ,  written  not 
with  ink,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God."  ^  President 
Edwards,  in  his  Thoughts  on  the  Revival,  written  in  1743, 
says,  there  is  a  strange  alteration  almost  all  over  Nev/ 
England  among  the  young.  Many  both  old  and  young 
have  become  serious,  mortified  and  humble  in  their  con- 
versation; their  thoughts  and  affections  are  now  about  the 
favour  of  God,  an  interest  in  Christ,  and  spiritual  blessed- 
ness. The  Bible  is  in  much  greater  esteem  and  use  than 
formerly.  The  Lord's  day  is  more  religiously  observed. 
There  has  been  more  acknowledgment  of  faults  and  resti- 
tution within  two  years,  than  in  thirty  years  before.  The 
leading  truths  of  the  gospel  are  more  generally  and  firmly 
held;  and  many  have  exhibited  calmness,  resignation,  and 

I  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  34. 

-  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  252.     See  similar  testimonies  in  the  Christian  History, 
p.  252.  286,  et  passim. 


64  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

joy,  in  the  midst  of  the  severest  trials.  ^     It  is  true  his  esti- 
'  mate  of  this  work  a  few  years  later,  was  far  less  favourable, 
but  he  never  ceased  to  regard  it  as  a  great  revival  of  genu- 
me  religion. 

Trumbull,  a  later  witness,  says,  "  the  effects  on  great 
numbers  were  abiding  and  most  happy.  They  were  the 
most  uniform  exemplary  Christians  with  whom  I  was  ever 
acquainted.  I  was  born  and  had  my  education  in  that  part 
of  the  town  of  Hebron  in  which  the  work  was  most  pre- 
valent and  powerful.  Many,  who  at  that  time  imagined 
that  they  were  born  of  God,  made  a  profession  of  their 
faith  in  Christ,  and  were  admitted  to  full  communion,  and 
appeared  to  walk  with  God."  They  were,  he  adds,  con- 
stant and  serious  in  their  attendance  on  public  worship, 
prayerful,  righteous,  and  charitable,  strict  in  the  government 
of  their  families,  and  not  one  of  them,  as  far  as  he  knew, 
was  ever  guilty  of  scandal.  Eight  or  ten  years  after  the 
religious  excitement,  there  was  not  a  drunkard  in  the  whole 
parish.  "  It  was  the  most  glorious  and  extensive  revival 
of  religion  and  reformation  of  manners  which  this  country 
has  ever  known.  It  is  estimated  that  in  the  term  of  two 
or  three  years,  thirty  or  forty  thousand  souls  were  born  into 
the  family  of  heaven  in  New  England,  besides  great  num- 
bers in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  the  more  southern 
provinces."  ^  It  is  to  be  feared,  indeed,  that  Trumbull  was 
led  from  the  favourable  specimens  which  fell  under  his 
own  observation,  and  from  his  friendship  for  some  of  the 
leading  promoters  of  the  revival,  to  form  a  more  favourable 

'  Edwards'  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  105. 

2  History  of  Connecticut,  vol.  ii.  p.  263.  The  same  estimate,  as  to  the 
number  of  converts,  is  given  in  a  Historical  Narrative  and  Declaration  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  strict  Congregational  Churches,  (i.  e.  of  the  sepa- 
rated,) in  Connecticut.     Providence,  1781. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  G5 

opinion  of  its  general  results  than  the  facts  in  the  case 
would  warrant.  His  testimony,  however,  is  important, 
belonging  as  he  did  to  the  next  generation  of  ministers, 
and  familiarly  acquainted  as  he  was  with  some  of  the  most 
zealous  preachers  of  the  preceding  period. 

The  rise  of  the  Methodists  in  England,  the  extensive 
revival  of  religion  in  Scotland,  were  contemporaneous  with 
the  progress  of  the  revival  in  this  country.  This  simulta- 
neous excitement  in  the  difierent  parts  of  the  British  empire, 
was  marked  every  where,  in  a  great  measure,  with  the 
same  peculiar  features.  It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  its 
history  abroad  in  connexion  with  what  occurred  on  our 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  This,  however,  the  nature  of  the  pre- 
sent work  forbids.  It  is  enough  for  our  purpose  to  know 
that  the  revival  was  not  confined  to  this  country.  It  was 
essentially  the  same  work  here,  in  Scotland,  and  in  Eng- 
land, modified  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  those  seve- 
ral countries. 

If  the  evidence  was  not  perfectly  satisfactory,  that  this 
remarkable  and  extended  revival  was  indeed  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  it  would  lose  almost  all  its  interest  for 
the  Christian  church.  It  is  precisely  because  it  was  in  the 
main  a  work  of  God,  that  it  is  of  so  much  importance  to 
ascertain  what  were  the  human  or  evil  elements  mixed 
with  it,  which  so  greatly  marred  its  beauty  and  curtailed 
its  usefulness.  That  there  were  such  evils  cannot  be  a 
matter  of  doubt.  The  single  consideration,  that  imme- 
diately after  this  excitement  the  state  of  religion  rapidly 
declined,  that  errors  of  all  kinds  became  more  prevalent 
than  ever,  and  that  a  lethargy  gradually  settled  on  the 
churches  which  was  not  broken  for  near  half  a  century,  is 
proof  enough  that  there  was  a  dreadful  amount  of  evil 

6*  . 


QQ  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

connected  with  the  revival.  Was  such,  however,  actually 
the  case?  Did  reUgion  thus  rapidly  decline?  If  this  ques- 
tion must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  what  were  the 
causes  of  this  decline,  or  what  were  the  errors  which  ren- 
dered this  revival,  considered  as  a  whole,  productive  of 
such  evils  ?  These  are  questions  of  tlie  greatest  interest  to 
the  American  churches,  and  ought  to  be  very  seriously 
considered  and  answered. 

That  the  state  of  religion  did  rapidly  decline  after  the  re- 
vival, we  have  abundant  and  melancholy  evidence.  Even 
as  early  as  1744,  President  Edwards  says,  "the  present 
state  of  things  in  New  England,  is,  on  many  accounts, 
very  melancholy.  There  is  a  vast  alteration  within  two 
years."  God,  he  adds,  was  provoked  at  the  spiritual  pride 
and  self-confidence  of  the  people,  and  withdrew  from  them, 
and  "the  enemy  has  come  in  like  a  flood  in  various 
respects,  until  the  deluge  has  overwhelmed  the  whole 
land.  There  had  been  from  the  beginning  a  great  mixture, 
especially  in  some  places,  of  false  experiences  and  false  reli- 
gion with  true;  but  from  this  time  the  mixture  became 
much  greater,  and  many  were  led  away  into  sad  delu- 
sions." ^  In  another  letter  dated.  May  23,  1749,  he  says, 
"  as  to  the  state  of  religion  in  these  parts  of  the  world,  it  is, 
in  general,  very  dark  and  melancholy."  ^  In  the  preceding 
October,  when  writing  to  Mr.  Erskine  of  Edinburgh,  he  com- 
municates to  him  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  himself  from 
Gov.  Belcher  of  New  Jersey,  who  says,  "The  accounts 
which  I  receive  from  time  to  time  give  me  too  much  reason 
to  fear  that  Arminianism,  Arianism,  and  even  Socinianism, 
in  destruction  to  the  doctrines  of  grace  are  daily  propagated 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  McCulIoch,  of  Scotland,  dated  March  5,  1744.  Life  of 
Edwards,  p.  219. 

2  Letter  to  Mr.  Robe,  of  Kilsyth.    Life,  p.  279. 


IN    THE    UNITEB    STATES.  67 

in  the  New  England  colleges."^  In  1750,  he  writes  to 
Mr.  McCulloch  in  the  following  melancholy  strain.  "It  is 
indeed  now  a  sorrowful  time  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 
Iniquity  abounds,  and  the  love  of  many  waxes  cold.  Mul- 
titudes of  fair  and  high  professors,  in  one  place  or  another, 
have  sadly  backslidden,  sinners  are  desperately  hardened; 
experimental  religion  is  more  than  ever  out  of  credit  with 
far  the  greater  part ;  and  the  doctrines  of  grace  and  those 
principles  in  religion  which  do  chiefly  concern  the  power 
of  godUness,  are  far  more  than  ever  discarded.  Armini- 
anism  and  Pelagianisra  have  made  a  strange  progress 
within  a  few  years.  The  Church  of  England  in  New 
England,  is,  I  suppose,  treble  what  it  was  seven  years  ago. 
Many  professors  are  gone  off  to  great  lengths  in  enthusiasm 
and  extravagance  in  their  notions  and  practices.  Great^ 
contentions,  separations,  and  confusions  in  our  religious 
state  prevail  in  many  parts  of  the  land."^  In  1752,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Gillespie  relating  to  his  difficulties  with  his 
congregation,  he  says,  "  It  is  to  be  considered  that  these 
things  have  happened  when  God  is  greatly  withdrawn, 
and  religion  was  very  low,  not  only  in  Northampton,  but 
all  over  New  England."  ^  The  church  in  Stonington,  Con- 
necticut, was  torn  to  pieces  by  fanaticism,  and  a  separate 
congregation  erected.  The  excellent  pastor  of  that  place, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Fish,  a  warm  friend  of  the  revival,  exerted 
himself  in  vain  to  stem  the  torrent ;  "  and  other  ministers," 
he  says,  "  that  came  to  our  help  carried  on  the  same  design 
of  correcting  the  false  notions  which  new  converts  had 
embraced,  about  religion;  particularly  the  late  judicious 
and  excellent  Mr.  David  Brainerd,  who,  in  this  desk,  ex- 
posed and  remonstrated  against  the  same  errors,  and  told 

'  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  268.  2  Ibid.  p.  413. 

3  Ibid.  p.  467. 


68  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

me,  that  such  false  religion  as  prevailed  among  my  people, 
had  spread  almost  all  the  land  over."  ^ 

1  Fish's  Nine  Sermons,  p.  137,  In  order  to  show  "  what  food  the  sepa- 
ratists turned  their  backs  upon,  and  what  doctrines  they  could  not  bear." 
Mr.  Fish  gives  in  a  note  an  outline  of  a  sermon  which  he  preached  during 
the  revival,  and  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  many  of  his  people  leaving 
him.  The  text  of  the  sermon  was,  Eph.  v.  1.  Be  ye  followers  of  God  as 
dear  children.  The  design  of  the  discourse  was  to  show,  1.  What  it  is  to 
follow  God.  2.  That  the  distinguishing  character  of  God's  children  lies  in 
their  being  followers  of  him.  To  follow  God  implies,  1,  Our  yielding  up 
ourselves  wholly  to  be  governed  by  his  laws  and  commands.  2.  Imitating 
his  moral  perfections,  that  is,  being  conformed  to  them  in  heart  and  life; 
particularly  in  purity  of  heart,  truth,  faithfulness,  justice,  uprightness,  &c. 
The  second  head  he  passes  over,  and  gives  the  application  of  the  sermon,  viz  : 

1.  Hence,  see  the  only  rule  by  which  we  may  try  and  know  God's  chil- 
dren. So  far  as  heart  and  life  appear  to  be  conformed  to  God,  they  show 
tliemselves  to  be  his  children. 

2.  Hence,  see  a  safe  rule  of  conduct.  Set  the  Lord  always  before  your 
eyes,  as  he  is  revealed  in  his  word. 

3.  Learn  wherein  true  religion  consists,  viz :  in  following  God,  imitating 
his  moral  perfections ;  resembling  him  in  spirit,  temper,  and  carriage,  habi- 
tually, in  a  steady  course  of  life.  It  is  therefore  a  mistake  to  place  religion 
in  extacies  and  raptures  of  joy,  loud  expressions  of  distress  for  souls  in  public 
meetings;  in  povrerful  impressions  to  do  things  of  a  religious  nature;  in 
visions  or  lively  imaginations  of  a  bleeding  Saviour,  an  outward  Christ 
with  open  and  inviting  arms,  a  local  hell  or  heaven  and  such  like.  (Which 
things,  adds  the  author,  at  that  day,  were  in  high  repute,  treated  with  the 
greatest  reverence,  called  the  power.,  tScc.)  God's  children  indeed,  may  have 
these  things,  but  these  are  no  evidences  that  they  are  his  children,  as  they 
are  no  parts  of  true  religion,  nor  do  they  belong  to  the  character  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  God. 

This  sermon,  says  Mr.  Fish,  gave  an  amazing  shock  to  the  assembly,  and 
proved  extremely  offensive.  The  house  was  filled  with  outcries  against  the 
preacher,  or  loud  expressions  of  concern  for  him.  He  was  upon  this  de- 
clared an  opposer  of  the  work  of  God,  making  the  hearts  of  his  children  sad 
and  strengthening  the  hands  of  the  wicked.  And  now  matters  ripened  fast 
for  a  separation.  The  kind  of  religion  of  which  this  extract  gives  us  a 
glimpse,  had,  at  that  early  period,  according  to  David  Brainerd,  spread  almost 
all  the  land  over. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  69 

That  false  doctrines  increasingly  prevailed  after  the  revi- 
val, is  strongly  asserted  in  the  letter  of  Edwards  already 
quoted.  Other  proofs  of  the  fact  might  easily  be  adduced. 
The  Rev.  John  Graham,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  1745, 
complains  that  many  had  gone  forth  who  preached  not  the 
gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  denied  the  doctrines 
of  personal  election,  of  original  sin,  of  justification  by  the 
perfect  righteousness  of  Christ,  imputed  by  an  act  of  sove- 
reign grace;  instantaneous  regeneration  by  the  divine  en- 
ergy of  special  irresistible  grace ;  and  of  the  final  perseve- 
rance of  the  saints.  "  The  Pelagian  and  Arminian  errors," 
he  adds,  "cannot  but  be  exceedingly  pleasing  to  the  devil; 
and  such  as  preach  them  most  successfully,  are  the  greatest 
instruments  of  supporting  his  kingdom  in  the  world,  and 
his  dominion  in  the  hearts  of  men.  What  necessity  is  then 
laid  upon  ministers  of  the  gospel,  who  see  what  danger 
precious  souls  are  in  by  the  spread  and  prevalence  of  such 
pernicious  errors,  which  are  like  a  fog  or  smoke,  sent  from 
the  bottomless  pit  on  purpose  to  prevent  the  shining  of  the 
gospel  sun  into  the  hearts  of  men,  to  be  very  close  and 
strict  in  searching  into  the  principles  of  such  as  are  candi- 
dates for  the  sacred  ministry."  ^ 

Somewhat  later.  President  Clap  found  it  necessary,  on 
account  of  the  increasing  prevalence  of  error,  to  write 
a  formal  defence  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  England 
Churches.  The  leading  features  of  the  new  divinity,  of 
which  he  complained,  were,  1.  That  the  happiness  of  the 
creature  is  the  great  end  of  creation.  2.  That  self-love  is 
the  ultimate  foundation  of  all  moral  obligation.  3.  That 
God  cannot  control  the  acts  of  free  agents.  4.  That  he 
cannot  certainly  foreknow,  much  less  decree  such  acts. 

'  Sermon  preached  at  the  ordination  of  Nathan  Strong,  Oct.  9,  1745,  by 
John  Graham,  of  Soutlibury. 


70  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

5.  That  all  sin  consists  in  the  voluntary  transgression  of 
known  law;  that  Adam  was  not  created  in  a  state  of  holi- 
ness, but  only  had  a  power  to  act  virtuously ;  and  every  man 
is  now  born  into  the  world  in  as  perfect  a  state  of  rectitude 
as  that  in  which  Adam  was  created.  6.  The  actions  of 
moral  agents  are  not  free,  and  consequently  have  no  moral 
character,  unless  such  agents  have  plenary  ability  and  full 
power  to  the  contrary.  Hence  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that 
God  should  implant  grace  or  holiness  in  any  man,  or  keep 
him  from  sin.  7.  Christ  did  not  die  to  make  satisfaction 
for  sin,  and  hence  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  him  to  be 
essentially  God,  but  only  a  perfect  and  glorious  creature. 
No  great  weight  ought  to  be  laid  upon  men's  believing 
Christ's  divinity,  or  any  of  those  speculative  points  which 
have  been  generally  received  as  the  peculiar  and  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  gospel;  but  we  ought  to  have  cha- 
rity for  all  men,  let  their  speculative  principles  be  what 
they  may,  provided  they  lead  moral  lives.  ^  These  doc- 
trines were  a  great  advance  on  the  Arminian  or  even 
Pelagian  errors  over  which  President  Edwards  lamented, 
and  show  what  might  indeed  be  expected,  that  the  churches 
had  gone  from  bad  to  worse. 

This  is  certainly  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  state  of  religion 
so  soon  after  a  revival,  regarded  as  the  most  extensive  the 
country  had  ever  known.  It  is  drawn  not  by  the  enemies, 
but  in  a  great  measure  by  the  best  and  wisest  friends  of 
religion.  The  preceding  account,  it  is  true,  relates  princi- 
pally to  New  England.  In  the  Presbyterian  Church  the 
same  rapid  decline  of  religion  does  not  appear  to  have 
taken  place.     In  1752,  President  Edwards,  in  a  letter  to 

•  Brief  History  and  vindication  of  the  Doctrines  of  tlie  Churches  of  New 
England,  with  a  specimen  of  the  new  scheme  of  religion  beginning  to  pre- 
vail.    By  Thomas  Clap,  President  of  Yale  College.     New  Haven,  1755. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  71 

Mr.  McCulloch,  says,  "  As  to  the  state  of  religion  in  Ame- 
rica, I  have  httle  to  write  that  is  comfortable,  but  there 
seem  to  be  better  appearances  in  some  of  the  other  colonies 
than  in  New  England."  ^  He  specifies  particularly  New 
Jersey  and  Virginia.  And  we  know  from  other  sources, 
that  while  the  cause  of  truth  and  piety  was  declining  in 
the  eastern  states,  the  Presbyterian  Church,  especially  that 
portion  of  it  in  connexion  with  the  synod  of  New  York, 
was  increasing  and  flourishing.  With  regard  to  orthodoxy, 
at  least,  there  was  little  cause  of  complaint.  The  only 
instance  on  record,  during  this  whole  period,  of  the  avowal 
of  Arminian  sentiments,  by  a  presbyterian  minister,  was 
that  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marker,  of  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick;  and  he  was  suspended  from  the  ministry  as 
soon  as  convicted.  ^ 

1  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  518. 

-  Tliat  there  has  never  been  any  open  and  avowed  departure  from  Calvinis- 
tic  doctrines  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  wliile  repeated  and  extended  defec- 
tions iiave  occurred  in  New  England,  is  a  fact  worthy  of  special  considera- 
tion. The  causes  of  this  remarlcable  difference  in  tlie  history  of  these  two 
portions  of  the  church,  may  be  sought  by  different  persons  in  different  cir- 
cumstances. Presbyterians  may  be  excused  if  they  regard  their  form  of 
government  as  one  of  tlie  most  important  of  those  causes.  New  England  has 
enjoyed  greater  religious  advantages  than  any  other  portion  of  our  country. 
It  was  settled  by  educated  and  devoted  men.  Its  population  was  homogene- 
ous and  compact.  The  people  were  almost  all  of  the  same  religious  persua- 
sion. The  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the  contrary,  has  laboured  under  great 
disadvantages.  Its  members  were  scattered  here  and  there,  in  the  midst  of 
other  denominations.  Its  congregations  were  widely  separated,  and,  owing 
to  the  scattered  residences  of  the  people,  often  very  feeble ;  and,  moreover,  not 
unfrcquently  composed  of  discordant  materials,  Irish,  Scotch,  German,  French, 
and  English.  Yet  doctrinal  purity  has  been  preserved  to  a  far  greater  extent 
in  the  latter  denomination  tlian  in  the  former.  What  is  the  reason  ?  Is  it 
not  to  be  sought  in  the  conservative  influence  of  prcsbyterianism  ?  The  dis- 
tinguished advantages  possessed  by  New  England,  have  produced  Iheir  legi- 
timate effects.     It  would  be  not  less  strange  than  lamentable,  had  the  insti- 


72  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

This  low  State  of  religion,  and  extensive  departure  from 
the  truth,  in  that  part  of  the  country  where  the  revival  had 
been  most  extensive,  is  certainly  prima  facie  proof  that  there 
must  have  been  something  very  wrong  in  the  revival  itself. 
It  may,  however,  be  said,  that  the  decay  of  religion  through 
the  land  generally,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  purity 
of  the  revival,  and  the  flourishing  state  of  those  particular 
churches  which  had  experienced  its  influence.  The  facts 
of  the  case,  unfortunately,  do  not  allow  us  the  benefit  of 
this  assumption.  It  is  no  doubt  true,  that  in  some  congre- 
gations, as  in  that  of  Hebron,  mentioned  by  Trumbull,  reli- 
gion was  in  a  very  desirable  state,  in  the  midst  of  the  gene- 
ral decline ;  but  it  is  no  less  certain,  that  in  many  instances, 

tutions,  instructions,  and  example  of  the  pious  founders  of  New  England  been 
of  no  benefit  to  their  descendants.  It  is  to  these  sources  that  portion  of  our 
country  is  indebted  for  its  general  superiority.  The  obvious  decline  in  the 
religious  character  of  the  people,  and  the  extensive  prevalence,  at  different 
periods,  of  fanaticism  and  Antinomianism,  Arminianism,  and  Pelagianism, 
is,  as  we  believe,  to  be  mainly  attributed  to  an  unhappy,  and  unscriptural 
ecclesiastical  organization.  Had  New  England,  with  her  compact  and 
homogeneous  population,  and  all  her  other  advantages,  enjoyed  the  benefit  of 
a  regular  presbyterian  government  in  the  church,  it  would,  in  all  human  pro- 
bability, have  been  the  noblest  ecclesiastical  community  in  the  world. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  great  majority  of  all  the  distinguished  ministers 
whom  New  England  has  produced,  have  entertained  the  opinion  here  express- 
ed, on  the  subject.  President  Edwards,  for  example,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Erskine,  said,  "  I  have  long  been  out  of  conceit  of  our  unsettled,  independent, 
confused  way  of  church  government;  and  the  presbyterian  way  has  ever 
appeared  to  me  most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  reason  and  nature 
of  things."  Life,  p.  412.  Where  the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  the  church 
is  committed  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  who,  as  a  general  rule,  are  incompe- 
tent to  judge  in  doctrinal  matters,  and  who,  in  many  cases,  are  little  under 
the  influence  of  true  religion,  we  need  not  wonder  that  corruption  should  from 
time  to  time  prevail.  As  Christ  has  appointed  presbyters  to  rule  in  the 
church  according  to  his  word,  on  them  devolve  the  duty  and  responsibility 
of  maintaining  the  truth.  1  his  charge  is  safest  in  the  hands  of  those  to  whom 
Christ  has  assigned  it. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  73 

in  the  very  places  where  the  revival  was  the  most  remark- 
able, the  declension  was  the  most  serious.  Northampton 
itself  may  be  taken  as  an  illustration.  "  That  church  was 
pre-eminently  a  city  set  upon  an  hill.  Mr.  Stoddard,  dur- 
ing a  remarkably  successful  ministry,  had  drawn  the  atten- 
tion of  American  Christians  for  fifty-seven  years.  He  had 
also  been  advantageously  known  in  the  mother  country. 
Mr.  Edwards  had  been  their  minister  for  twenty-three 
years.  In  the  respect  paid  to  him  as  a  profound  theolo- 
gical writer,  he  had  no  competitor  from  the  first  establish- 
ment of  the  colonies,  and  even  then,  could  scarcely  find  one 
in  England  or  Scotland.  He  had  also  as  high  a  reputation 
for  elevated  and  fervent  piety  as  for  superiority  of  talents. 
During  the  preceding  eighty  years,  that  church  had  been 
favoured  with  more  numerous  and  powerful  revivals,  than 
any  church  in  Christendom."  ^  This  account,  though  given 
in  the  characteristically  large  style  of  Edwards' biographer, 
is  no  doubt  in  the  main  correct.  Here  then,  if  any  where, 
we  might  look  for  the  most  favourable  results  of  the  revi- 
val. During  the  religious  excitement  in  the  years  1734 
and  1735,  within  six  months,  more  than  three  hundred 
persons,  whom  Edwards  regarded  as  true  converts,  were 
received  into  the  church.^  In  1736,  the  whole  number  of 
communicants  was  six  hundred  and  twenty,  including 
almost  the  whole  adult  population  of  the  town.  ^  The 
revival  of  1740-2,  was  considered  still  more  pure  and  won- 
derful. What  was  the  state  of  religion  in  this  highly 
favoured  place,  soon  after  all  these  revivals?  In  the  judg- 
ment of  Edwards  himself  it  was  deplorably  low,  both  as  to 
Christian  temper  and  adherence  to  sound  doctrine.  In 
1744,  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  administer  discipline 

»  D wight's  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  446.  2  Edwards'  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  28. 

3  Ibid.  p.  27. 

7 


74  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

somewhat  injudiciously,  it  is  true,  as  to  the  manner  of 
doing  it,  it  was  strenuously  resisted.  The  whole  town  was 
thrown  into  a  blaze.  Some  of  the  accused  "  refused  to 
appear;  others,  who  did  appear,  behaved  with  a  great 
degree  of  insolence,  and  contempt  for  the  authority  of  the 
church,  and  little  or  nothing  could  be  done  further  in  the 
affair."  ^  From  1744  to  1748,  not  a  single  application  was 
made  for  admission  to  the  church.  ^  In  1749,  when  it  be- 
came known  that  Edwards  had  adopted  the  opinion  that 
none  ought  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper  but  such 
as  gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  conversion,  "  the  town  was 
put  into  a  great  ferment;  and  before  he  v/as  heard  in  his 
own  defence,  or  it  was  known  by  many  what  his  principles 
were,  the  general  cry  was  to  have  him  dismissed."  ^  That 
diversity  of  opinion  between  a  pastor  and  his  people  on 
such  a  practical  point,  should  lead  to  a  desire  for  a  separa- 
tion, might  not  be  very  discreditable  to  either  party.  But 
when  it  is  known,  that  on  this  occasion  the  church  treated 
such  a  man  as  Edwards,  who  not  only  was  an  object  of 
veneration  to  the  Christian  public,  but  who  behaved  in  the 
most  Christian  manner  through  the  whole  controversy,  with 
the  greatest  injustice  and  malignity,  it  must  be  regarded  as 
proof  positive  of  the  low  state  of  religion  among  them. 
They  refused  to  allow  him  to  preach  on  the  subject  in  dis- 
pute; they  pertinaciously  resisted  the  calling  of  a  fair  coun- 
cil to  decide  the  matter;  they  insisted  on  his  dismission 
without  making  any  provision  for  his  expensive  family; 
and  when  his  dismission  had  taken  place,  they  shut  their 
pulpit  against  him,  even  when  they  had  no  one  else  to 
occupy  it;  on  the  unfounded  suspicion  that  he  intended  to 
form  a  new  church  in  the  town,  they  presented  a  remon- 
strance containing  direct,  grievous,  and  criminal  charges 

<  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  300.  2  ibid.  p.  438.  »  Ibid.  p.  306. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  75 

against  him,  which  were  really  gross  slanders.  ^  This  was 
not  the  ofience  of  a  few  individuals.  Almost  the  whole 
church  took  part  against  Edwards.  ^  Such  treatment  of 
such  a  man  certainly  proves  a  lamentable  state  of  religion, 
as  far  as  Christian  temper  is  concerned.  With  regard  to 
orthodoxy  the  case  was  not  much  better.  Edwards  in  a 
letter  to  Erskine,  in  1750,  says,  there  seemed  to  be  the 
utmost  danger  that  the  younger  generation  in  Northamp- 
ton, would  be  carried  away  with  Arminianism  as  with  a 
flood;  that  it  was  not  likely  that  the  church  would  choose 
a  Calvinist  as  his  successor,  and  that  the  older  people  were 
never  so  indifferent  to  things  of  this  nature.^ 

The  explanation  which  has  been  proposed  of  these  extra- 
ordinary facts,  is  altogether  unsatisfactory.  It  is  said,  that 
the  custom  which  had  long  prevailed  in  Northampton,  of 
admitting  those  to  the  Lord's  Supper  who  gave  no  suffi- 
cient evidence  of  conversion,  sufficiently  accounts  for  all 
this  ill  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  church.  But  where  were  i 
the  three  hundred  members  whom  Edwards  regarded  as 
"  savingly  brought  home  to  Christ,"  '*  within  six  months, 
during  the  revival  of  1734-5?  Where  were  all  the  fruits 
of  the  still  more  powerful  revival  of  1740-42?  The  vast 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  church  had  been  brought  in 
by  Edwards  himself,  and  of  their  conversion  he  considered 
himself  as  having  sufficient  evidence.  The  habit  of  free 
admission  to  the  Lord's  table,  therefore,  by  no  means 
accounts  for  the  painful  facts  above  referred  to.     After  all 

'  Life  of  Edward?,  p.  421.  See  the  whole  details  of  this  extraordinary 
history,  pp.  288—404. 

•  In  one  place  it  is  said,  about  twenty  heads  adhered  to  their  pastor,  p.  464; 
in  another,  that  only  twenty -three,  out  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  male  mem- 
bars  of  the  church,  voted  against  his  dismission,  p.  410. 

3  Ibid.  p.  411.     Compare  his  Farewell  Sermon. 

"  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  28. 


76  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

that  had  been  published  to  the  world  of  the  power  of  reli- 
gion in  Northampton,  the  Christian  public  were  entitled  to 
expect  to  see  the  people  established  in  the  truth,  and  an 
example  in  holiness  to  other  churches.  Instead  of  this,  we 
find  them  resisting  the  administration  of  discipline  in  less 
than  eighteen  months  after  the  revival;  alienated  from  their 
pastor;  indifferent  to  the  truth,  and  soon  driving  from  among 
them  the  first  minister  of  his  age,  with  every  aggravating 
circumstance  of  ingratitude  and  injustice.  It  is  all  in  vain 
to  talk  of  the  religion  of  such  a  people.  This  fact  demon- 
strates that  there  must  have  been  something  wrong  in  these 
revivals,  even  under  the  eye  and  guidance  of  Edwards, 
from  the  beginning.  There  must  have  been  many  spurious 
conversions,  and  much  false  religion  which  at  the  time  were 
regarded  as  genuine.  This  assumption  is  nothing  more 
than  the  facts  demand,  nor  more  than  Edwards  himself  fre- 
quently acknowledged.  There  is  the  most  marked  differ- 
ence between  those  of  his  writings  which  were  published 
during  the  revival,  and  those  which  appeared  after  the 
excitement  had  subsided.  In  the  account  which  he  wrote 
in  1736,  of  the  revival  of  the  two  preceding  years,  there  is 
scarcely  an  intimation  of  any  dissatisfaction  with  its  cha- 
racter. Yet,  in  1743,  he  speaks  of  it  as  having  been  very 
far  from  pure;^  and  in  1751,  he  lamented  his  not  having 
had  boldness  to  testify  against  some  glaring  false  appear- 
ances, and  counterfeits  of  religion,  which  became  a  dread- 
ful source  of  spiritual  pride,  and  of  other  things  exceeding- 
ly contrary  to  true  Christianity.  ^  In  like  manner,  in  the 
contemporaneous  account  of  the  revival  of  1740-42,  he 
complains  of  nothing  but  of  some  disorders  introduced 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  1742,  from  other  congrega- 
tions; whereas,  in  his  letters  written  a  few  years  later,  he 

1  Life,  p.  168,  2  Ibid.  p.  465. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  77 

acknowledges  that  many  things  wore  wrong  from  the  first. 
This  is,  indeed,  very  natural.  While  in  the  midst  of  the 
excitement,  seeing  and  feeling  much  that  he  could  not  but 
regard  as  the  result  of  divine  influence,  he  was  led  to 
encourage  many  things  which  soon  brought  forth  the  bitter 
fruits  of  disorder  and  corruption.  His  correspondence 
affords  abundant  evidence  how  fully  sensible  he  became  of 
the  extent  to  which  this  revival  was  corrupted  with  false 
religion.  When  his  Scottish  friends  had  informed  him  of  the 
religious  excitement  then  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  Hol- 
land, he  wrote  to  Mr,  Erskine,  June  28,  1751,  expressing 
his  anxiety  that  the  people  might  be  led  to  "  distinguish 
between  true  and  false  religion;  between  those  experiences 
which  are  from  the  saving  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  those  which  are  from  Satan,  transformed  into  an  angel 
of  light."  He  wished  that  they  had  the  experience  of  the 
church  of  God  in  America,  on  this  subject,  as  they  would 
need  all  the  warning  that  could  be  given  them.  "  The 
temptation,"  he  adds,  "to  religious  people  in  such  a  state 
to  countenance  the  glaring,  shining  counterparts  of  religion, 
without  distinguishing  them  from  the  reaUty,"  is  so  strong 
that  they  can  hardly  be  restrained  from  committing  the 
mistake.  In  reference  to  the  wish  of  the  Dutch  ministers 
to  have  attestations  of  the  permanently  good  effects  of  the 
revivals  in  Scotland  and  America,  he  says,  "  I  think  it  fit 
they  should  know  the  very  truth  in  the  case,  and  that  things 
should  be  represented  neither  better  nor  worse  than  they 
are.  If  they  should  be  represented  worse,  it  would  give 
encouragement  to  unreasonable  opposers;  if  better,  it  might 
prevent  a  most  necessary  caution  among  the  true  friends  of 
the  awakening.  There  are,  undoubtedly,  very  many  in- 
stances in  New  England,  in  the  whole,  of  the  perseverance 
of  such  as  were  thought  to  have  received  the  saving  bene- 


78  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

fit  of  the  late  revivals  of  religion,  and  of  their  continuing  to 
walk  in  newness  of  life  as  becometh  saints;  instances  which 
are  incontestable.  But  I  believe  the  proportion  here  is  not 
so  great  as  in  Scotland.  I  cannot  say  that  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  supposed  converts  give  reason  to  suppose,  by 
their  conversation,  that  they  are  true  converts.  The  pro- 
portion may,  perhaps,  be  more  truly  represented  by  the 
proportion  of  the  blossoms  on  a  tree  which  abide  and  come 
to  mature  fruit,  to  the  whole  number  of  blossoms  in  the 
spring."^  In  another  letter,  dated  Nov.  23,  1752,  he  ex- 
presses his  conviction  that  there  was  a  greater  mixture  of 
evil  with  good  in  the  revival  in  Holland,  than  the  ministers 
there  supposed;  that  the  consequences  of  not  distinguish- 
ing between  true  and  false  religion  would  prove  worse  than 
they  had  any  conception  of  He  then  refers  to  the  history 
of  the  revival  here,  and  adds  that  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  "  the  divines  of  Europe  would  lay  very  much  weight 
on  the  admonitions  which  they  received  from  such  an 
obscure  part  of  the  world.  Other  parts  of  the  church  of 
Crod  must  be  taught  as  we  have  been,  and  when  they  see 
and  feel,  then  they  will  beheve.  Not  that  I  apprehend 
there  is  in  any  measure  so  much  enthusiasm  and  disorder 
mixed  with  the  work  in  Holland,  as  was  in  many  parts  of 
America,  in  the  time  of  the  last  revival  of  religion  here."  ^ 
These  passages  give  a  melancholy  account  of  the  results 
of  the  great  religious  excitement  now  under  consideration. 
In  the  preceding  estimate  Edwards  does  not  speak  of 
those  who  were  merely  awakened,  or  who  were  for  a  time 
the  subjects  of  serious  impressions,  but  of  those  who  were 
regarded  as  converts.  It  is  of  these,  he  says,  that  only  a 
small  portion  proved  to  be  genuine.  If  this  be  so,  it  cer- 
tainly proves  that,  apart  from  the  errors  and  disorders 

»  Life,  p.  459.  «  Ibid.  p.  508. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  79 

universally  reprobated  by  the  judicious  friends  of  the  revi- 
val, there  were  serious  mistakes  committed  by  those  friends 
themselves.  If  it  was  difficult  then,  it  must  be  much  more 
so  now,  to  detect  the  causes  of  the  spurious  excitement 
which  then  so  extensively  prevailed.  Two  of  these  causes, 
however,  are  so  obvious  that  they  can  hardly  fail  to  attract 
attention.  These  were  laying  too  much  stress  on  feelings 
excited  through  the  imagination,  and  allowing,  and  indeed 
encouraging  the  free  and  loud  manifestation  of  feeling 
during  public  or  social  worship. 

It  is  one  office  of  the  imagination  to  recall  and  reconstruct 
conceptions  of  any  object  which  affects  the  senses.  It  is  by 
this  faculty  that  we  form  mental  images,  or  lively  concep- 
tions of  the  objects  of  sense.  It  is  to  this  power  that 
graphic  descriptions  of  absent  or  imaginary  scenes  are 
addressed;  and  it  is  by  the  agency  of  this  faculty  that 
oratory,  for  the  most  part,  exerts  its  power  over  the  feelings. 
That  a  very  large  portion  of  the  emotions  so  strongly  felt, 
and  so  openly  expressed  during  this  revival,  arose  not  from 
spiritual  apprehensions  of  divine  truth,  but  from  mere  ima- 
ginations or  mental  images,  is  evident  from  two  sources; 
first,  from  the  descriptions  given  of  the  exercises  themselves, 
and  secondly  from  the  avowal  of  the  propriety  of  this  method 
of  exciting  feeling  in  connexion  with  religious  subjects. 
Had  we  no  definite  information  as  to  this  point,  the  general 
account  of  the  eff'ects  of  the  preaching  of  Whitefield  and 
others,  would  satisfy  us  that,  to  a  very  great  extent,  the 
results  were  to  be  attributed  to  no  supernatural  influence, 
but  to  the  natural  power  of  oratory.  There  is  no  subject 
so  universally  interesting  as  religion,  and  therefore  there  is 
none  which  can  be  made  the  cause  of  such  general  and 
powerful  excitement;  yet  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  had 
Whitefield  selected  any  worthy  object  of  benevolence  or 


80  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

patriotism,  he  would  have  produced  a  great  commotion  in 
the  public  mind.  When  therefore  he  came  to  address  men 
on  a  subject  of  infinite  importance,  of  the  deepest  personal 
concern,  we  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  effects  which  he 
produced.  The  man  who  could  thaw  the  icy  propriety  of 
Bolingbroke;  who  could  extort  gold  from  Franklin,  though 
armed  with  a  determination  to  give  only  copper;  or  set 
Hopkinson,  for  the  time  being,  beside  himself;  might  be 
expected  to  control  at  will  the  passions  of  the  young,  the 
ignorant,  and  the  excitable.  It  is  far  from  being  denied 
or  questioned  that  his  preaching  was,  to  an  extraordinary 
degree,  attended  by  a  divine  influence.  That  influence  is 
needed  to  account  for  the  repentance,  faith,  and  holiness, 
which  were  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  the  result  of  his  minis- 
trations. It  is  not  needed,  however,  to  account  for  the  loud 
outcries,  faintings,  and  bodily  agitations,  which  attended 
his  course.  These  are  sufficiently  explained  by  his  vivid 
descriptions  of  hell,  of  heaven,  of  Christ,  and  a  future  judg- 
ment, addressed  to  congregated  thousands  of  excited  and 
sympathizing  hearers,  accompanied  by  the  most  stirring 
appeals  to  the  passions,  and  all  delivered  with  consummate 
skill  of  voice  and  manner.  It  was  under  such  preaching, 
the  people,  as  he  tells  us,  soon  began  to  melt,  to  weep,  to 
cry  out,  and  to  faint.  That  a  large  part  of  these  results 
were  to  be  attributed  to  natural  causes,  can  hardly  be 
doubted;  yet  who  could  discriminate  between  what  was 
the  work  of  the  orator,  and  what  was  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
of  God?  Who  could  tell  whether  the  sorrow,  the  joy,  and 
the  love  expressed  and  felt,  were  the  result  of  lively  ima- 
ginations, or  of  spiritual  apprehensions  of  the  truth  ?  The 
two  classes  of  exercises  were  confounded;  both  passed  for 
genuine,  until  bitter  experience  disclosed  the  mistake.  It 
is  evident  that  Whitefield  had  no  opportunity  of  making 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES. 


81 


any  such  discrimination;  and  that  for  the  time  at  least,  he 
regarded  all  meltings,  all  sorrowing,  and  all  joy,  following 
his  fervid  preaching  as  evidence  of  the  divine  presence.  It 
is  not  however  these  general  accounts  so  much  as  the  more 
particular  detail  of  the  exercises  of  the  subjects  of  this  revi- 
val, which  shows  how  much  of  the  feeling  then  prevalent, 
was  due  to  the  imagination.  Thus  Edwards  speaks  of 
those  who  had  a  lively  picture  in  their  minds  of  hell  as  a 
dreadful  furnace,  of  Christ  as  one  of  glorious  majesty,  and 
of  a  sweet  and  gracious  aspect,  or  as  of  one  hanging  on  the 
cross,  and  blood  running  from  his  wounds.  ^  Great  stress 
was  often  laid  upon  these  views  of  "  an  outward  Christ," 
and  upon  the  feelings  resulting  from  such  conceptions. 
Though  Edwards  was  from  the  beginning  fully  aware  that 
there  was  no  true  religion  in  such  exercises;  ^  and  though 
in  his  work  on  the  Affections,  written  in  1746,  he  enters  ^ 
largely  on  the  danger  of  delusion  from  this  source,  it  is 
very  evident  that  at  this  period  he  was  not  properly  im- 
pressed with  a  sense  of  guarding  against  this  evil.  Just 
after  stating  how  commonly  such  mental  pictures  were 
cherished  by  the  people,  he  adds,  "surely  such  things  will 
not  be  wondered  at  by  those  who  have  observed,  how  any 
strong  affections  about  temporal  matters,  will  excite  lively 
ideas  and  pictures  of  diflerent  things  in  the  mind."  ^  In 
his  sermon  on  the  distinguishing  marks  of  a  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  he  goes  much  further.  He  there  says,  "  Such 
is  our  nature  that  we  cannot  think  of  things  invisible  with- 
out some  degree  of  imagination.  I  dare  appeal  to  any 
man  of  the  greatest  powers  of  mind,  whether  he  is  able  to 
fix  his  thoughts  on  God,  or  Christ,  or  the  things  of  another 

1  Works,  vol.  4.  p.  55. 

2  See  his  account  of  the  revival  in  1734-5,  written  in  1736. 
5  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  55. 


82  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

world  without  imaginary  ideas  attending  his  meditations."  * 
By  imaginary  ideas,  he  means  mental  images,  or  pictures.  ^ 
In  the  same  connexion,  he  adds,  "  the  more  engaged  the 
mind  is,  and  the  more  intense  the  contemplation  and  affec- 
tion, still  the  more  lively  and  strong  will  the  imaginary 
idea  ordinarily  be."  Hence, he  insists,  "that  it  is  no  argu- 
ment that  a  work  is  not  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that 
some  who  are  the  subjects  of  it,  have  been  in  a  kind  of 
ecstacy,  wherein  they  have  been  carried  beyond  them- 
selves, and  have  had  their  minds  transported  in  a  train  of 
strong  and  pleasing  imaginations,  and  a  kind  of  visions,  as 
though  they  were  rapt  up  even  to  heaven,  and  there  saw 
glorious  sights."  ^ 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  is  a  legitimate  use  of  the 
imagination  in  religion.  The  Bible  often  addresses  itself 
to  this  faculty.  The  descriptions  which  it  gives  of  the 
future  glory  of  the  church,  and  of  heaven  itself,  are  little 
else  than  a  series  of  images;  not  that  we  should  conceive 
of  the  millennium  as  of  a  time  when  the  lion  and  lamb  shall 
feed  together,  or  of  heaven  as  a  golden  city,  but  that  we 
may  have  a  more  lively  impression  of  the  absence  of  all 
destructive  passions,  when  Christ  shall  reign  on  earth,  and 
that  we  may  learn  to  think  of  heaven  as  a  state  of  sur- 
passing glory.  In  all  such  cases  it  is  the  thought  which 
the  figure  is  meant  to  convey,  and  not  the  figure  itself,  that 

'  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  5G7. 

2  This  is  plain  from  his  own  account  of  them.  In  liis  work  on  the  Affec- 
tions, he  says,  "  All  such  things  as  we  perceive  by  our  five  senses,  seeing, 
hearing,  smelling,  tasting,  and  feeling,  are  external  things;  and  where  a  per- 
son has  an  idea  or  image  of  any  of  these  sorts  of  things,  when  they  are  not 
there,  and  when  he  really  does  not  see,  hear,  smell,  taste,  or  feel  them,  that 
is  to  have  an  imagination  of  them,  and  these  ideas  are  imaginary  ideas." 
p,  236  of  the  Elizabethtown  edition. 

3  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  568. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  §3 

the  mind  rests  upon  in  all  truly  religious  exercises.  When, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  mind  fixes  on  the  image,  and  not 
upon  the  thought,  and  inflames  itself  with  these  imagina- 
tions, the  result  is  mere  spurious  excitement.  So  far  then 
as  the  imagination  is  used  to  render  the  thoughts  which 
the  miderstanding  forms  of  spiritual  things,  distinct  and 
vivid,  so  far  may  it  minister  to  our  religious  improvement. 
But  when  it  is  made  a  mere  chamber  of  imagery,  in  which 
the  soul  alarms  or  delights  itself  with  spectres,  it  becomes 
the  source  of  all  manner  of  delusions. 

It  may  still  further  be  admitted,  that  images  borrowed 
from  sensible  objects,  often  mix  with  and  disturb  the  truly 
spiritual  contemplations  of  the  Christian,  but  this  is  very 
diflerent  from  teaching  that  we  cannot  think  of  God,  or 
Christ,  or  spiritual  subjects,  without  some  pictorial  repre- 
sentations of  them.  If  such  is  the  constitution  of  our  nature 
that  we  must  have  such  imaginary  ideas  of  God  himself, 
then  we  ought  to  have  and  to  cherish  them.  But  by  the 
definition,  these  ideas  are  nothing  but  the  reproduction  and 
varied  combinations  of  past  impressions  on  the  senses.  To 
say,  therefore,  that  we  must  have  such  ideas  of  God,  is  to 
say  that  we  must  conceive  of  him  and  worship  him  under 
some  corporeal  form,  which  is  nothing  but  refined  idolatry, 
and  is  as  much  forbidden  as  the  worship  of  stocks  or  stones. 
It  certainly  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  we  cannot 
form  any  pictorial  representation  of  a  spirit,  and  least  of  all, 
of  God ;  or  that  such  representations  of  Christ  or  heaven, 
cannot  be  the  source  of  any  truly  religious  affections.  What 
have  such  mental  images  to  do  with  the  apprehension  of  the 
evil  of  sin,  of  the  beauty  of  hohness,  of  the  mercy  of  God,  of 
the  merits  of  Christ,  or  with  any  of  those  truths  on  which 
the  mind  acts  when  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God? 


84  PRESBYTERIAN    CHUKCH 

From  the  accounts  of  this  revival  already  quoted,  from 
the  detail  given  of  the  experience  of  many  of  its  subjects, 
and  especially  from  the  arguments  and  apologies  just 
referred  to,  it  is  evident  that  one  great  source  of  the  false 
religion,  which,  it  is  admitted,  then  prevailed,  was  the 
countenance  given  to  these  impressions  on  the  imagination 
and  to  the  feelings  thus  excited.  It  was  in  vain  to  tell  the 
people  they  must  distinguish  between  what  was  imaginary 
and  what  was  spiritual ;  that  there  was  no  religion  in  these 
lively  mental  images,  when  they  were  at  the  same  time 
told  that  it  was  necessary  they  should  have  them,  and  that 
the  more  intense  the  religious  affection,  the  more  vivid 
would  these  pictures  be.  Under  such  instruction  they 
would  strive  to  form  such  imaginations;  they  would  doat 
on  them,  inflame  themselves  with  them,  and  consider  the 
vividness  of  the  image,  and  the  violence  of  the  consequent 
emotion,  as  the  measure  of  their  religious  attainment. 
How  deeply  sensible  Edwards  became  of  the  evil  which 
actually  arose  from  this  source,  may  be  learned  from  his 
work  on  the  Affections.  When  an  "  affection  arises  from 
the  imagination,  and  is  built  upon  it,  as  its  foundation, 
instead  of  a  spiritual  illumination  or  discovery,  then  is  the 
affection,  however  elevated,  worthless  and  vain."  ^  And 
in  another  place,  he  says,  "  When  the  Spirit  of  God  is  pour- 
ed out,  to  begin  a  glorious  work,  then  the  Old  Serpent,  as 
fast  as  possible,  and  by  all  means,  introduces  this  bastard 
religion,  and  mingles  it  with  the  true;  which  has,  from 
time  to  time,  brought  all  things  into  confusion.  The  per- 
nicious consequence  of  it  is  not  easily  imagined  or  con- 
ceived of,  until  we  see  and  are  amazed  with  the  awful 
effects  of  it,  and  the  dismal  desolation  it  has  made.  If  the 
revival  of  true  religion  be  very  great  in  its  beginning,  yet 

1  Religioua  Affections,  p,  320. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  85 

if  this  bastard  comes  in,  there  is  danger  of  its  doing  as 
Gideon's  bastard,  Abimelech,  did,  who  never  left  until  he 
had  slain  all  his  threescore  and  ten  true  born  sons,  except- 
ing one,  that  was  forced  to  flee.  The  imagination  or  phan- 
tasy, seems  to  be  that  wherein  are  formed  all  those  delu- 
sions of  Satan,  which  those  are  carried  away  with,  who 
are  under  the  influence  of  false  religion,  and  counterfeit 
graces  and  aff'ections.  Here  is  the  devil's  grand  lurking 
place,  the  very  nest  of  foul  and  delusive  spirits."  ^ 

If  Edwards,  who  was  facile  princeps  among  the  friends 
of  this  revival,  could,  during  its  early  stages,  fall  into  the 
error  of  countenancing  the  delusions  which  he  afterwards 
so  severely  condemned,  what  could  be  expected  of  White- 
field  and  others,  who  at  this  time,  (dates  must  not  be 
neglected,  a  few  years  made  a  great  difl'erence  both  in  per- 
sons and  things,)  passed  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  neither 
making  nor  being  able  to  make,  the  least  distinction  be- 
tween the  effects  of  an  excited  imagination,  and  the  exer- 
cises of  genuine  religion.  That  they  would  test  the  expe- 
rience of  their  converts  by  its  fruits,  is  not  denied,  but  that 
they  considered  all  the  commotions  which  attended  their 
ministrations,  as  proofs  of  the  Spirit's  presence,  is  evident 
from  their  indiscriminate  rejoicing  over  all  such  manifesta- 
tions of  feeling.  These  violent  agitations  produced  through 
the  medium  of  the  imagination,  though  sufficiently  preva- 
lent during  the  revival  in  this  country,  were  perhaps  still 
more  frequent  in  England,  under  the  ministrations  of  Wes- 
ley, and,  combined  with  certain  peculiarities  of  his  system, 
have  given  to  the  religion  of  the  Methodists  its  peculiar, 
and,  so  far  as  it  is  peculiar,  its  undesirable  characteristic. 

Another  serious  evil  was  the  encouragement  given  to 
loud  outcries,  fainting,  and  bodily  agitations  during  the 

1  Religious  Affections,  p.  316. 
8 


86  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

time  of  public  worship.  It  is  remarkable  that  these  effects 
of  the  excitement  prevailed  generally,  not  only  in  this  comi- 
try,  but  also  in  Scotland  and  England.  The  fanatical  por- 
tion of  the  friends  of  the  revival  not  only  encouraged  these 
exhibitions,  but  regarded  them  as  proofs  of  the  presence 
and  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  ^  The  more  judicious 
never  went  to  this  extreme,  though  most  of  them  regarded 
them  with  favour.  This  was  the  case  with  Whitefield, 
Edwards,  and  Blair. 

The  manner  in  which  Whitefield  describes  the  scenes  at 
Nottingham  and  Fagg's  Manor,  and  others  of  a  similar 
character,  shows  that  he  did  not  disapprove  of  these  agita- 
tions. He  says,  he  never  saw  a  more  glorious  sight,  than 
when  the  people  were  fainting  all  round  him,  and  crying 
out  in  such  a  manner  as  to  drown  his  own  voice.  Edwards 
took  them  decidedly  under  his  protection.  He  not  only 
mentions,  without  the  slightest  indication  of  disapproba- 
tion, that  his  church  was  often  filled  with  outcries,  faint- 
ings,  and  convulsions,  but  takes  great  pains  to  vindicate  the 
revival  from  all  objection  on  that  account.  Though  such 
efi"ects  were  not,  in  his  view,  any  decisive  evidence  of  the 
kind  of  influence  by  which  they  were  produced,  he  con- 
tended that  it  was  easy  to  account  for  their  being  produced 
by  a  "  right  influence  and  a  proper  sense  of  things."  ^  He 
says,  ministers  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  speaking  of  these 
things  "  as  probable  tokens  of  God's  presence,  and  argu- 
ments of  the  success  of  preaching,  because  I  think  they  are 
so  indeed.  I  confess  that  when  I  see  a  great  outcry  in  a 
congregation,  I  rejoice  in  it  much  more  than  merely  in  an 
appearance  of  solemn  attention,  and  a  show  of  aff"ection  by 
weeping.     To  rejoice  that  the  work  of  God  is  carried  on 

1  Fish's  Sermons.    Trumbull's  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  161.    Chauncey's  Sea- 
sonable Thoughts,  p.  78.  93.  2  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  563. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  §7 

calmly  and  without  much  ado,  is  in  effect  to  rejoice  that  it 
is  carried  on  with  less  power,  or  that  there  is  not  so  much 
of  the  influence  of  God's  Spirit."  ^  In  the  same  connexion 
he  says,  that  when  these  outcries,  faintings,  and  other 
bodily  effects  attend  the  preaching  of  the  truth,  he  did  not 
"scruple  to  speak  of  them,  to  rejoice  in  them,  and  bless 
God  for  them,"  as  probable  tokens  of  his  presence. 

The  Boston  ministers,  on  the  other  hand,  appear  to  have 
disapproved  of  these  things  entirely,  as  they  mention  their 
satisfaction  that  there  had  been  little  or  nothing  of  such 
"  blemishes  of  the  work"  among  their  churches,  ^  The 
same  view  was  taken  of  them  by  President  Dickinson, 
William  Tennent,  of  Freehold,  and  many  others. 

That  the  fanatics,  who  regarded  these  bodily  agitations 
and  outcries  as  evidences  of  conversion,  committed  a  great 
and  dangerous  mistake,  need  not  be  argued;  and  that 
Edwards  and  others,  who  rejoiced  over  and  encouraged 
them,  as  probable  tokens  of  the  favour  of  God,  fell  into 
an  error  scarcely  less  injurious  to  religion,  will,  at  the 
present  day,  hardly  be  questioned.  That  such  effects  fre- 
quently attend  religious  excitements  is  no  proof  that  they 
proceed  from  a  good  source.  They  may  owe  their  origin 
to  the  corrupt,  or  at  least  merely  natural  feelings,  which 
always  mingle,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  with  strong  reli- 
gious exercises.  It  is  a  matter  of  great  practical  impor- 
tance to  learn  what  is  the  true  cause  of  these  effects;  to 
ascertain  whether  they  proceed  from  those  feelings  which 
are  produced  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  from  those  which 
arise  from  other  sources.  If  the  former,  we  ought  to  rejoice 
over  them;  if  the  latter,  they  ought  to  be  repressed  and  dis- 
countenanced. 

That  such  bodily  agitations  owe  their  origin  not  to  any 

•  Works,  vol.  iv.  1G9.  -  Christian  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  386. 


88  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

divine  influence,  but  to  natural  causes,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  these  latter  are  adequate  to  their  produc- 
tion. They  are  not  confined  to  those  persons  whose  sub- 
sequent conduct  proves  them  to  be  the  subjects  of  the  grace 
of  God;  but,  to  say  the  least,  are  quite  as  frequently  expe- 
rienced by  those  who  know  nothing  of  true  religion.  In- 
stead, therefore,  of  being  referred  to  those  feelings  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  people  of  God,  they  may  safely  be  refer- 
red to  those  which  are  common  to  them  and  to  unrenewed 
men.  Besides,  such  effects  are  not  peculiar  to  what  we 
call  revivals  of  religion ;  they  have  prevailed,  in  seasons  of 
general  excitement,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
among  pagans,  papists,  and  every  sect  of  fanatics  which 
has  ever  disgraced  the  Christian  church.  We  are,  there- 
fore, not  called  upon  to  regard  such  things  with  much 
favour,  or  to  look  upon  them  as  probable  tokens  of  the 
presence  of  God,  That  the  bodily  agitations  attendant  on 
revivals  of  religion  are  of  the  same  nature,  and  attributable 
to  the  same  cause,  as  the  convulsions  of  enthusiasts,  is  in 
the  highest  degree  probable,  because  they  arise  under  the 
same  circumstances,  are  propagated  by  the  same  means, 
and  cured  by  the  same  treatment.  They  arise  in  seasons 
of  great,  and  especially  of  general  excitement;  they,  in  a 
great  majority  of  cases,  affect  the  ignorant  rather  than  the 
enlightened,  those  in  whom  the  imagination  predominates 
over  the  reason,  and  especially  those  who  are  of  a  nervous 
temperament,  rather  than  those  of  an  opposite  character. 
These  affections  all  propagate  themselves  by  a  kind  of  infec- 
tion. This  circumstance  is  characteristic  of  this  whole  class 
of  nervous  diseases.  Physicians  enumerate  among  the 
causes  of  epilepsy  "  seeing  a  person  in  convulsions."  This 
fact  was  so  well  known,  that  the  Romans  made  a  law,  that 
if  any  one  should  be  seized  with  epilepsy  during  the  meet- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  QQ 

ing  of  the  comitia,  the  assembly  should  be  immediately  dis- 
solved. This  disease  occurred  so  frequently  in  those  excit- 
ing meetings,  and  was  propagated  so  rapidly,  that  it  was 
called  the  morbus  comitialis.  Among  the  enthusiasts  who 
frequented  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe  Paris,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century,  convulsions  were  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, and  never  failed  to  prove  infectious.  During  a  reli- 
gious celebration  in  the  church  of  Saint  Roch,  at  Paris,  a 
young  lady  was  seized  with  convulsions,  and  within  half 
an  hour  between  fifty  and  sixty  were  similarly  affected.  ^ 
A  multitude  of  facts  of  the  same  kind  might  be  adduced. 
Sometimes  such  affections  became  epidemic,  spreading  over 
whole  provinces.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  a  violent  nerv- 
ous disease,  attended  with  convulsions,  and  other  analo- 
gous symptoms,  extended  over  a  great  part  of  Germany, 
especially  affecting  the  inmates  of  the  convents.  In  the 
next  century  something  of  the  same  kind  prevailed  exten- 
sively in  the  south  of  France.  These  affections  were  then 
regarded  as  the  result  of  demonaical  possessions,  and  in 
some  instances,  multitudes  of  poor  creatures  were  put  to 
death  as  demoniacs.  ^ 

The  bodily  agitations  attending  the  revival,  were  in  like 
manner  propagated  by  infection.  On  their  first  appearance 
in  Northampton,  a  few  persons  were  seized  at  an  evening 
meeting,  and  while  others  looked  on  they  soon  became 

1  Dictionarc  des  Sciences  Medicales,  Article  Convulsionnaire.  In  this 
same  article  it  is  stated,  that  a  young  woman  affected  with  a  spasmodic  and 
continued  hiccup,  producing  a  noise  very  similar  to  the  barking  of  a  dog, 
was  placed  in  a  hospital  in  the  same  room  with  four  other  female  patients, 
and  in  a  few  days  they  were  all  seized  with  the  same  nervous  disease. 

2  Marshal  Villars  says  in  his  Memoires,  "  Qu'il  a  vu  dans  les  Ceveimes 
une  ville  entiere  dont  toutes  les  femmes  et  les  filles,  sans  exception,  parais- 
saient  poss^dees  du  diable ;  elles  tremblaient  et  proph^tisaient  publiquement 
dans  les  rues,"  &c. 

8* 


90  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

similarly  effected;  even  those  who  appear  to  have  come 
merely  out  of  curiosity  did  not  escape.  The  same  thing 
was  observable  at  Nottingham,  Fagg's  Manor,  and  other 
places  under  the  preaching  of  Whitefield.  It  was  no  less 
obvious  in  Scotland.  It  was  exceedingly  rare  for  any  one 
to  be  thus  affected  in  private;  but  in  the  public  meetings 
when  one  person  was  seized,  others  soon  caught  the  infec- 
tion. In  England,  where  these  affections  were  regarded  at 
least  at  first,  by  Wesley,  as  coming  from  God,  and  proofs 
of  his  favour,  they  were  very  violent  and  spread  with  great 
rapidity,  seizing,  at  times,  upon  opposers  as  well  as  friends. 
Thus  on  one  occasion,  it  is  stated,  that  a  Quaker  who  was 
present  at  one  meeting,  and  inveighed  against  what  he 
called  the  dissimulation  of  these  creatures,  caught  the  con- 
tagious emotion  himself,  and  even  while  he  was  biting  his 
lips  and  knitting  his  brows,  dropt  down  as  if  he  had  been 
struck  by  lightning.  "  The  agony  he  was  in,"  says  Wes- 
ley, "was  even  terrible  to  behold;  we  besought  God  not 
to  lay  folly  to  his  charge,  and  he  soon  lifted  up  his  head 
and  cried  aloud,  'now  I  know  thou  art  a  prophet  of  the 
Lord.'  "  ^  On  another  occasion,  under  the  preaching  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Berridge,  a  man  who  had  been  mocking  and 
mimicking  others  in  their  convulsions,  was  himself  seized. 
"  He  was,"  says  the  narrator,  "  the  most  horrible  human 
figure  I  ever  saw.  His  large  wig  and  hair  were  coal-black, 
his  face  distorted  beyond  all  description.  He  roared  inces- 
santly, throwing  and  clapping  his  hands  together  with  his 
whole  force.  Some  of  his  brother  scoffers  were  calling  for 
horsewhips,  till  they  saw  him  extended  on  his  back  at  full 
length;  they  then  said  he  was  dead;  and  indeed  the  only 
sign  of  life  was  the  working  of  his  breast,  and  the  distor- 
tions of  his  face,  while  the  veins  of  his  neck  were  swelled 

1  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  221. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  91 

as  if  ready  to  burst.  His  agonies  lasted  some  hours;  then 
his  body  and  soul  were  eased."  ^  "  At  another  meeting," 
he  says,  "  a  stranger  who  stood  facing  me,  fell  backward  to 
the  wall,  then  forward  on  his  knees,  wringing  his  hands 
and  roaring  like  a  bull.  His  face  at  first  turned  quite  red, 
then  almost  black.  He  rose  and  ran  against  the  wall,  till 
Mr.  Keeling  and  another  held  him.  He  screamed  out, 
'  Oh !  what  shall  I  do !  what  shall  I  do !  oh,  for  one  drop 
of  the  blood  of  Christ!'  As  he  spoke,  God  set  his  soul  at 
liberty;  he  knew  his  sins  were  blotted  out;  and  the  rap- 
ture he  was  in,  seemed  too  great  for  human  nature  to 
bear."  "  One  woman  tore  up  the  ground  with  her  hands, 
filling  them  with  dust  and  with  the  hard  trodden  grass,  on 
which  I  saw  her  lie  as  one  dead.  Some  continued  long,  as 
if  they  were  dead,  but  with  a  calm  sweetness  in  their  looks. 
I  saw  one  who  lay  two  or  three  hours  in  the  open  air,  and 
being  then  carried  into  the  house,  continued  insensible 
another  hour,  as  if  actually  dead.  The  first  sign  of  life  she 
showed,  was  a  rapture  of  praise  intermixed  with  a  small 
joyous  laughter."^  These  accounts,  however,  must  be 
read  in  detail,  in  order  to  have  any  adequate  conception  of 
the  nature  and  extent  of  these  dreadful  nervous  affections. 
Wesley  at  one  time  regarded  them  as  direct  intimations  of 
approbation  of  God.  Preaching  at  Newgate,  he  says,  he 
was  led  insensibly,  and  without  any  previous  design,  to 
declare  strongly  and  explicitly,  that  God  willed  all  men  to 
be  saved,  and  to  pray  that,  if  this  was  not  the  truth  of  God, 
he  would  not  suffer  the  blind  to  go  out  of  the  way;  but  if 
it  was,  he  would  bear  witness  to  his  word.  "  Immediately 
one  and  other  sunk  to  the  earth ;  they  dropt  on  every  side 
as  thunderstruck.."  "  In  the  evening  I  was  again  pressed  in 
spirit  to  declare,  that  Christ  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all. 

»  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  ii.  p.  238.  2  Jbid.  vol.  ii.  p.  237. 


92  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

And  almost  before  we  called  upon  him  to  set  to  his  seal,  he 
answered.  One  was  so  wounded  by  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  that  you  would  have  imagined  she  could  not  live  a 
moment.  But  immediately  his  abundant  kindness  was 
shown,  and  she  loudly  sang  of  his  righteousness."  ^ 

1  Southey's  Life  of  Wesley,  vol.  i.  p.  219. — How  Wesley  viewed  this  sub- 
ject at  a  somewhat  later  period,  may  be  learned  from  the  following  extract. 
"  Tlie  danger  was,"  says  he,  "  to  regard  extraordinary  circuinstances  too 
much;  such  as  outcries,  convulsions,  visions,  trances,  as  if  they  were  essen- 
tial to  the  inward  work,  so  that  it  could  not  go  on  without  them.  Perhaps 
the  danger  is,  to  regard  them  too  little;  to  condemn  them  altogether;  to 
imagine  they  had  nothing  of  God  in  them,  and  were  a  hinderance  to  his 
work;  whereas  the  truth  is,  1.  God  suddenly  and  strongly  convinced  many 
that  they  were  lost  sinners ;  the  natural  consequences  whereof  were  sudden 
outcries,  and  strong  bodily  convulsions.  2.  To  strengthen  and  encourage 
them  that  believed,  and  to  make  his  work  more  apparent,  he  favoured 
several  of  them  with  divine  dreams;  others  with  trances  and  visions.  3.  In 
some  of  these  instances,  after  a  time,  nature  mixed  with  grace.  4.  Satan 
likewise  mimicked  this  work  of  God,  in  order  to  discredit  the  whole  work ; 
and  yet  it  is  not  wise  to  give  up  this  part,  any  more  than  to  give  up  the 
whole.  At  first  it  was,  doubtless,  wholly  from  God;  it  is  partly  so  at  this 
day ;  and  He  will  enable  us  to  discern  how  far  in  every  case,  the  work  is 
pure,  and  when  it  mixes  and  degenerates.  Let  us  even  suppose,  that  in  some 
few  cases,  there  was  a  mixture  of  dissimulation ;  that  persons  pretended  to 
see  and  feel  what  they  did  not,  and  imitated  the  cries  and  convulsive  motions 
of  those  who  were  really  overpowered  by  the  Spirit  of  God;  yet  even  this 
should  not  make  us  either  undervalue  or  deny  the  real  work  of  the  Spirit. 
The  shadow  is  no  disparagement  of  the  substance,  nor  the  counterfeit  of  the 
real  diamond."  Quoted  by  Southey,  vol.  ii.  p.  242.  Wesley  seems  to  have 
felt  himself  obliged  to  regard  these  agitations  as  springing  firom  dissimula- 
tion, from  Satan's  influence,  or  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  far  more  natural 
solution,  that  they  were  a  nervous  disease,  common  in  all  ages,  during  sea- 
sons of  excitement,  he  overlooks. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Watson,  in  his  Life  of  Wesley,  says  very  little  on  this 
subject.  He  evidently  took  much  the  same  view  of  the  matter  as  that  pre- 
sented in  the  above  extract.  "  Of  the  extraordinary  circumstances,"  says  he, 
"  which  have  usually  accompanied  such  visitations,  it  may  be  said,  that  if 
some  should  be  resolved  into  purely  natural  causes,  some  into  real  enthu- 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  93 

The  various  bodily  exercises  which  attended  the  Western 
revivals  in  our  own  country,  in  the  early  part  of  the  pre- 
sent century,  were  of  the  same  nature,  and  obeyed  pre- 
cisely the  same  laws.  They  began  with  what  was  called 
the  falling  exercise ;  that  is,  the  person  affected  would  fall 
on  the  ground  helpless  as  an  infant.  This  was  soon  suc- 
ceeded, in  many  places,  by  a  species  of  convulsions  called 
the  jerks.  Sometimes  it  would  affect  the  whole  body, 
jerking  it  violently  from  place  to  place,  regardless  of  all 
obstacles ;  at  others,  a  single  limb  would  be  thus  agitated. 
When  the  neck  was  attacked,  the  head  would  be  thrown 
backward  and  forwards  with  the  most  fearful  rapidity. 
There  were  various  other  forms  in  which  this  disease  mani- 
fested itself,  such  as  whirling,  rolling,  running,  and  jumping. 
These  exercises  were  evidently  involuntary.  They  were 
highly  infectious  and  spread  rapidly  from  place  to  place  j 
often  seizing  on  mere  spectators,  and  even  upon  those  who 
abhorred  and  dreaded  them.  ^ 

siasm,  and  (under  favour  of  our  philosophers,)  others  in  Satanic  imitation,  a 
sufficient  number  will  remain,  which  can  only  be  explained  by  considering^ 
them  as  results  of  a  strong  impression  made  upon  the  consciences  and  affec- 
tions of  men,  by  an  influence  ascertained  to  be  divine  by  its  unquestionable 
effects  upon  the  heart  and  life.  Nor  is  it  either  irrational  or  unscriptural  to 
suppose,  that  times  of  great  national  darkness  and  depravity,  the  case  cer- 
tainly of  this  country  at  the  outset  of  Wesley  and  his  colleagues  in  their 
glorious  career,  should  require  a  strong  remedy;  and  that  the  attention  of 
a  sleeping  people  should  be  roused  by  circumstances,  which  could  not  fail  to 
be  noticed  by  the  most  unthinking."— Life  of  Wesley  by  Richard  Watson, 
p.  28. 

1  Biblical  Repertory,  1834,  p.  351. — An  intelligent  physician,  who  had 
many  opportunities  of  personal  observation,  gives  the  following  account  of 
these  singular  exercises.  "  DiflFerent  persons  are  variously  affected.  Some 
rise  to  their  feet  and  spin  round  like  a  top;  while  others  dance  till  they  fall 
down  exhausted.  Some  throw  back  their  heads  with  convulsive  laughter, 
while  others,  drowned  in  tears,  break  forth  in  sighs  and  lamentations.    Some 


94  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Another  characteristic  of  these  affections,  whether  occur- 
ring among  pagans,  papists,  or  protestants,  and  which  goes 
to  prove  their  identity,  is,  that  they  all  yield  to  the  same 
treatment.  As  they  arise  from  impressions  on  the  nervous 
system  through  the  imagination,  the  remedy  is  addressed 
to  the  imagination.  It  consists  in  removing  the  exciting 
causes,  that  is,  withdrawing  the  patient  from  the  scenes 
and  contemplations  which  produced  the  disease;  or  in  ma- 
king a  strong  counter  impression,  either  through  fear,  shame, 
or  sense  of  duty.  The  possessions,  as  they  were  called, 
in  the  south  of  France,  were  put  a  stop  to  by  the  wisdom 
and  firmness  of  certain  bishops,  who  insisted  on  the  sepa- 
ration and  seclusion  of  all  the  affected.  On  another  occa- 
sion, a  strange  nervous  agitation,  which  had  for  some  time, 
to  the  great  scandal  of  religion,  seized  periodically  on  all 
the  members  of  a  convent,  was  arested  by  the  magistrates 
bringing  up  a  company  of  soldiers,  and  threatening  with 
severe  punishment,  the  first  who  should  manifest  the  least 
symptom  of  the  affection.  ^  The  same  method  has  often 
been  successfully  resorted  to.  ^    In  like  manner  the  convul- 

fall  from  their  seats  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  and  lie  for  hours  without  con- 
sciousness; while  others  are  affected  with  violent  convulsions  resembling 
epilepsy.  During  the  convulsive  paroxysm,  recollection  and  sensation  are 
but  little  impaired ;  a  slight  stupor  generally  supervenes.  The  animal  func- 
tions are  not  much  interrupted;  the  pulse  is  natural;  the  temperature  is  that 
of  health  throughout  the  paroxysm.  After  it  has  subsided  there  is  a  soreness 
of  the  muscles,  and  a  slight  pain  in  the  head,  which  soon  pass  away." 

>  Dictionaire  des  Sciences  Medicales.   Article  Convulsionnaire. 

2  It  was  by  an  appeal  to  the  principle  of  shame  that  the  frequent  suicides 
among  the  young  women  of  Miletus  were  prevented.  Under  the  influence 
of  an  epidemic  alienation,  according  to  Plutarch,  the  young  females  hung 
themselves  in  great  numbers ;  but  when  the  magistrates  threatened  the  dis- 
graceful exposure  of  the  body  of  the  next  felo  de  se,  the  epidemic  was 
arrested.  A  similar  alienation,  which  had  seized  the  women  in  a  portion  of 
the  department  of  Simplon,  was  cured  by  a  strong  appeal  to  their  moral  sense 
emd  religious  feelings. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  95 

sions  attending  revivals  have  been  prevented  or  arrested, 
by  producing  the  conviction  that  they  were  wrong  or  dis- 
graceful. They  hardly  ever  appeared,  or  at  least  continued 
where  they  were  not  approved  and  encouraged.  In  North- 
ampton, where  Edwards  rejoiced  over  them,  they  were 
abundant;  in  Boston,  where  they  were  regarded  as  "blem- 
ishes," they  had  nothing  of  them.  In  Sutton,  Massachu- 
setts, they  were  "cautiously  guarded  against,''  and  conse- 
quently never  appeared,  except  among  strangers  from  other 
congregations.  ^  Only  two  or  three  cases  occurred  in  Eliza- 
bethtown,  under  President  Dickinson,  who  considered  them 
as  "irregular  heats,"  and  those  few  were  speedily  regulated. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  kind  at  Freehold,  where  William 
Tennent  set  his  face  against  all  such  manifestations  of 
enthusiasm.  On  the  other  hand,  they  followed  Davenport 
and  other  fanatical  preachers,  almost  wherever  they  went. 
In  Scotland  they  were  less  encouraged  than  they  were  here 
and  consequently  prevailed  less.  In  England,  where  Wes- 
ley regarded  them  as  certainly  from  God,  they  were  fearful 
both  as  to  frequency  and  violence.  The  same  thing  was 
observed  with  regard  to  the  agitations  attending  the  Wes- 
tern revivals.  The  physician  already  quoted,  says:  "Re- 
straint often  prevents  a  paroxysm.  For  example,  persons 
always  attacked  by  this  affection  in  churches  where  it  is 
encouraged,  Avill  be  perfectly  calm  in  churches  were  it  is 
discouraged,  however  affecting  may  be  the  service,  and 
however  great  the  mental  excitement."  ^     It  is  also  worthy 

1  Christian  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  168. 

2  The  characteristic  now  unJer  consideration  did  not  escape  the  accurate 
observation  of  Edwards,  though  it  failed  to  disclose  to  him  the  true  nature  of 
these  nervous  agitations.  "  It  is  evident,"  he  says,  »  from  experience,  that 
custom  has  a  strange  influence  in  these  things.  If  some  person  conducts 
them,  that  much  countenances  and  encourages  such  manifestations  of  great 
affections,  they  naturally  and  insensibly  prevail,  and  grow  by  degrees  una- 


96  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  consideration  that  these  bodily  affections  are  of  frequent 
occurrence  at  the  present  day,  among  those  who  continue 
to  desire  and  encourage  them. 

It  appears  then,  that  these  nervous  agitations  are  of  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  all  times  of  strong  excitement.  It 
matters  little  whether  the  excitement  arise  from  superstition, 
fanaticism,  or  from  the  preaching  of  the  truth.  If  the  ima- 
gination be  strongly  affected,  the  nervous  system  is  very 
apt  to  be  deranged,  and  outcries,  faintings,  convulsions, 
and  other  hysterical  symptoms  are  the  consequence.  That 
these  effects  are  of  the  same  nature,  whatever  may  be  the 
remote  cause,  is  plain,  because  the  phenomena  are  the 
same;  the  apparent  circumstances  of  their  origin  the  same; 
they  all  have  the  same  infectious  nature,  and  are  all  cured 
by  the  same  means.  They  are,  therefore,  but  different 
forms  of  the  same  disease;  and,  whether  they  occur  in  a 
convent  or  a  camp-meeting,  they  are  no  more  a  token  of 
the  divine  favour  than  hysteria  or  epilepsy. 

It  may  still  be  said,  that  although  they  do  sometimes 
arise  from  other  causes,  they  may  be  produced  by  genuine 
religious  feeling.  This,  however,  never  can  be  proved. 
The  fact  that  undoubted  Christians  experience  these  effects, 
is  no  proof  that  they  flow  from  a  good  source;  because 
there  is  always  a  corrupt  mixture  in  the  exercises  of  the 
most  spiritual  men.  These  affections  may,  therefore,  flow 
from  the  concomitants  of  genuine  religious  feelings,  and 
not  from  those  feelings  themselves.  And  that  they  do  in 
fact  flow  from  that  source,  may  be  assumed,  because  in 

voidable ;  but  afterwards  when  they  come  under  another  kind  of  conduct, 
the  manner  of  external  appearances  will  strongly  alter.  It  is  manifest  that 
example  and  custom  have  some  way  or  other  a  secret  and  unsearchable  influ- 
ence upon  those  actions  which  are  involuntary,  in  different  places,  and  in  the 
same  place  at  different  times."— Thoughts  on  the  Revival.  Works,  vol.  iv. 
p.  232. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  97 

Other  cases,  they  certahily  have  that  orighi:  and  because  all 
the  known  effects  of  true  rehgious  feelings  are  of  a  different 
character.  Those  apprehensions  of  truth  which  arise  from 
divine  illumination,  do  not  affect  the  imagination,  but  the 
moral  emotions,  which  are  very  different  in  their  nature 
and  effects  from  the  feelings  produced  by  a  heated  fancy. 
This  view  of  the  subject  is  greatly  confirmed  by  the  consi- 
deration, that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  to  lead  us  to 
regard  these  bodily  affections  as  the  legitimate  effects  of 
religious  feeling.  No  such  results  followed  the  preaching 
of  Christ,  or  his  apostles.  We  hear  of  no  general  outcries, 
faintings,  convulsions,  or  ravings  in  the  assemblies  which 
they  addressed.  The  scriptural  examples  cited  by  the  apo- 
logists of  these  exhibitions  are  so  entirely  inapplicable,  as 
to  be  of  themselves  sufficient  to  show  how  little  countenance 
is  to  be  derived  from  the  Bible  for  such  irregularities. 
Reference  is  made,  for  example,  to  the  case  of  the  jailer  at 
Philippi,  who  fell  down  at  the  apostles'  feet;  to  Acts  ii. 
37,  ("Now  when  they  heard  this,  they  were  pricked  in 
their  heart,  and  said.  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we 
do?")  and  to  the  conversion  of  Paul.  It  is,  however,  too 
obvious  to  need  remark,  that  in  no  one  of  these  cases  was 
either  the  effect  produced,  or  the  circumstances  attending 
its  production,  analogous  to  the  hysterical  convulsions  and 
outcries  now  under  consideration. 

The  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  is  not  merely  negati\^ 
on  this  subject.  Their  authority  is  directly  opposed  to  all 
such  disorders.  They  direct  that  all  things  should  be  done 
decently  and  in  order.  They  teach  us  that  God  is  not  the 
God  of  confusion,  but  of  peace,  in  all  tlie  churches  of  the 
saints.  These  passages  have  particular  reference  to  the 
manner  of  conducting  public  worship.  They  forbid  every 
thing  which  is  inconsistent  with  order,  solemnity,  and  de- 

9 


98  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

vout  attention.  It  is  evident  that  loud  outcries  and  convul- 
sions are  inconsistent  with  these  things,  and  therefore  ought 
to  be  discouraged.  They  cannot  come  from  God,  for  he 
is  not  the  author  of  confusion.  The  apologj''  made  in 
Corinth  for  the  disorders  which  Paul  condemned,  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  urged  in  defence  of  these  bodily 
agitations.  We  ought  not  to  resist  the  Spirit  of  God,  said 
the  Corinthians;  and  so  said  all  those  who  encouraged 
these  convulsions.  Paul's  answer  was,  that  no  influence 
which  comes  from  God  destroys  our  self-control.  "The 
spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets."  Even 
in  the  case  of  direct  inspiration  and  revelation,  the  mode  of 
communication  was  in  harmony  with  our  rational  nature, 
and  left  our  powers  under  the  control  of  reason  and  the 
will.  The  man,  therefore,  who  felt  the  divine  afflatus  had 
no  right  to  give  way  to  it,  under  circumstances  which 
would  produce  noise  and  confusion.  The  prophets  of  God 
were  not  like  the  raving  Pythoness  of  the  heathen  temples; 
nor  are  the  saints  of  God  converted  into  whirling  dervishes 
by  any  influence  of  which  he  is  the  author.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  Paul  would  have  severely  reprobated  such 
scenes  as  frequently  occurred  during  the  revival  of  which 
we  are  speaking.  He  would  have  said  to  the  people  sub- 
stantially, what  he  said  to  the  Corinthians.  If  any  unbe- 
liever or  ignorant  man  come  to  your  assemblies,  and  hears 
one  shouting  in  ecstacy,  another  howHng  in  anguish;  if  he 
see  some  falling,  some  jumping,  some  lying  in  convulsions, 
others  in  trances,  will  he  not  say,  ye  are  mad  ?  But  if  your 
exercises  are  free  from  confusion,  and  your  discourses  ad- 
dressed to  the  reason,  so  as  to  convince  and  reprove,  he 
will  confess  that  God  is  among  you  of  a  truth. 

Experience,  no  less  than  Scripture,  has  set  the  seal  of 
reprobation  upon  these  bodily  agitations.     If  they  are  of 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


99 


the  nature  of  an  infectious  nervous  disease,  it  is  as  much 
an  act  of  infatuation  to  encourage  them,  as  to  endeavour 
to  spread  epilepsy  over  the  land.  It  is  easy  to  excite  such 
things,  but  when  excited,  it  is  very  difficult  to  suppress 
them,  or  to  arrest  their  progress;  and  they  have  never  pre- 
vailed without  the  most  serious  mischief.  They  bring  dis- 
credit upon  religion,  they  give  great  advantage  to  infidels 
and  gainsayers,  and  they  facilitate  the  progress  of  fanati- 
cism. When  sanctioned,  the  people  delight  in  them,  as 
they  do  in  all  strong  excitement.  The  multitude  of  spuri- 
ous conversions,  the  prevalence  of  false  religion,  the  rapid 
progress  of  fanaticism,  and  the  consequent  permanent  de- 
clension of  religion,  immediately  after  the  great  revival, 
are  probably  to  be  attributed  to  the  favour  shown  to  these 
bodily  agitations,  as  much  as  to  any  one  cause. 

Besides  the  errors  above  specified,  which  were  sanction- 
ed by  many  of  the  best  friends  of  the  revival,  there  were 
others,  which,  though  reprobated  by  the  more  judicious, 
became,  through  the  patronage  of  the  more  ardent,  prolific 
sources  of  evil.  There  was  from  the  first  a  strong  leaven 
of  enthusiasm,  manifesting  itself  in  the  regard  paid  to  im- 
pulses, inspirations,  visions,  and  the  pretended  power  of  dis- 
cerning spirits.  This  was  decidedly  opposed  by  Edwards,  ^ 
by  the  Boston  clergy,  by  Tennent,  and  many  others.  White- 
field,  on  the  contrary,  was,  especially  in  the  early  part  of 
his  career,  deeply  infected  with  this  leaven.  When  he  visit- 
ed Northampton,  in  1 740,  Edwards  endeavoured  to  con- 
vince him  of  the  dangerous  tendency  of  this  enthusiastic 
spirit,  but  without  much  success.  ^  He  had  such  an  idea  of 
what  the  Scriptures  mean  by  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  as 
to  suppose  that  by  suggestions,  impressions,  or  sudden  recol- 

1  Thoughts  on  the  Revival,  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  180. 

2  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  147. 


100  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

lection  of  texts  of  the  Bible,  the  Christian's  duty  was  divine- 
ly revealed,  even  as  to  the  minutest  circumstance,  and  that 
at  times  even  future  events  were  thus  made  known.  On 
the  strength  of  such  an  impression  he  did  not  hesitate  pub- 
licly to  declare  that  his  unborn  child  would  prove  to  be  a 
son.  ^  "An  unaccountable  but  very  strong  impression," 
that  he  should  preach  the  gospel,  was  regarded  as  a  reve- 
lation of  the  purpose  of  God  respecting  him.  ^  The  ques- 
tion whether  he  should  return  to  England  was  settled  to 
his  satisfaction,  by  the  occurrence  to  his  mind  of  the  pas- 
sage. When  Jesus  was  returned,  the  people  gladly  received 
him.  ^  These  few  examples  are  enough  to  illustrate  the 
point  in  hand- 
In  Whitefield  there  was  much  to  counteract  the  operation 
of  this  spirit,  which  in  others  produced  its  legitimate  effects. 
When  Davenport  was  asked  by  the  Boston  ministers  the 
reason  of  any  of  his  acts,  his  common  reply  was,  God  com- 
manded me.  When  asked  whether  he  was  inspired,  he 
answered,  they  might  call  it  inspiration,  or  what  they 
pleased.  The  man  who  attended  him  he  called  his  armour- 
bearer,  because  he  was  led  to  take  him  as  a  follower,  by 
opening  on  the  story  of  Jonathan  and  his  armour-bearer. 
He  considered  it  also  as  revealed,  that  he  should  convert 
as  many  persons  at  a  certain  place,  as  Jonathan  and  his 
armour-bearer  slew  of  the  Philistines.'* 

This  was  only  one  of  the  forms  in  which  this  spirit  mani- 
fested itself.  Those  under  its  influence  pretended  to  a 
power  of  discerning  spirits,  of  deciding  at  once  who  was 
and  who  was  not  converted;  they  professed  a  perfect  assu- 

1  Gillies'  Life  of  Whitefield,  p.  63. 

2  Whitefield's  account  of  his  own  Life,  p.  11. 

3  Journal  from  Savannah  to  England,  p.  28. 

*  Chauncy's  Seasonable  Thoughts,  p.  196 — 8. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  IQl 

ranee  of  the  favour  of  God,  founded  not  upon  scriptural 
evidence,  but  inward  suggestion.  It  is  plain,  that  when 
men  thus  give  themselves  up  to  the  guidance  of  secret 
impressions,  and  attribute  divine  authority  to  suggestions, 
impulses,  and  casual  occurrences,  there  is  no  extreme  of 
error  or  folly  to  which  they  may  not  be  led.  They  are 
beyond  the  control  of  reason  or  the  word  of  God.  They 
have  a  more  direct  and  authoritative  communication  of  the 
divine  will  than  can  be  made  by  any  external  and  general 
revelation.  They  of  course  act  as  if  inspired  and  infallible. 
They  are  commonly  filled  with  spiritual  pride,  and  with  a 
bitter  denunciatory  spirit.  All  these  results  were  soon 
manifested  to  a  lamentable  extent  during  this  revival.  If 
an  honest  man  doubted  his  conversion,  he  was  declared 
unconverted.  If  any  one  was  filled  with  great  joy,  he  was 
pronounced  a  child  of  God.  These  enthusiasts  paid  great 
regard  to  visions  and  trances,  and  would  pretend  in  them 
to  have  seen  heaven  or  hell,  and  particular  persons  in  the 
one  or  the  other.  They  paid  more  attention  to  inward 
impressions  than  to  the  word  of  God.  They  laid  great 
stress  on  views  of  an  outward  Christ,  as  on  a  throne,  or 
upon  the  cross.  If  they  did  not  feel  a  minister's  preaching 
they  maintained  he  was  unconverted,  or  legal.  They 
made  light  of  all  meetings  in  which  there  was  no  external 
commotion.  They  had  a  remarkable  haughtiness  and  self- 
sufficiency,  and  a  fierce  and  bitter  spirit  of  zeal  and  cen- 
soriousness.  ^ 

The  origin  and  progress  of  this  fanatical  spirit  is  one  of 
the  most  instructive  portions  of  the  history  of  this  period. 
In  1726,  a  religious  excitement  commenced  in  New  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  which  was  at  first  of  a  promising  cha- 
racter, but  was  soon  perverted.     Its  subjects  opened  a 

•  Trumbull's  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  169;  whose  account  is  here  abridged. 

9* 


]02  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

communication  with  the  enthusiasts  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
began  to  speak  shghtly  of  the  Bible,  especially  of  the  Psalms 
of  David,  and  to  condemn  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  and 
civil  magistrates.     They  organized  themselves  into  a  sepa- 
rate society,  and  appointed  officers  not  only  to  conduct 
their  meetings,  but  to  regulate  their  dress.    They  made  assu- 
rance essential  to  faith;  they  undervalued  human  learning, 
and  despised  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper.     They  laid  claim  to  sinless  perfection,  and  pro- 
claimed that  the  standing  ministers  were  unfit  to  preach, 
and  that  the  people  ought  to  leave  them.  ^     One  of  the 
leaders  of  this  company  was  a  man  named  Ferris,  who 
entered  Yale  College  in  1729.     A  contemporary  writer  says 
of  this  gentleman.  He  told  me  he  was  certain  not  one  in 
ten  of  the  communicants  in  the  church  in  New  Haven 
could  be   saved;   that  he   should  have   a  higher  seat  in 
heaven  than  Moses;  that  he  knew  the  will  of  God  in  all 
things,  and  had  not  committed  any  sin  for  six  years.     He 
had  a  proud   and  haughty  spirit,  and  appeared  greatly 
desirous  of  applause.     He   obtained  a  great  ascendency 
over  certain  of  the  students,  especially  Davenport,  Whee- 
lock,  and  Pomeroy,  who  lived  with  him  most  familiarly. 
He  remained  in  college  until  1732,  and  then  returned  to 
New  Milford.     He  ultimately  became  a  Quaker  preacher.^ 
Such  was  the  origin  of  that  enthusiastical  and  fanatical 
spirit,  which    swept    over   the    New   England  churches. 
Messrs.  Wheelock  and  Pomeroy  seem  soon  to  have  escaped 
from  its  influence;  but  Davenport  remained  long  under  its 
power,  and  was  the  cause  of  incalculable  mischief.     He 
was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Southhold,  Long 

1  Letter  of  the  Rev.  D.  Boardman,  pastor  of  the  church  at  New  Milford, 
dated,  1742,  and  printed  in  Chancy's  Seasonable  Thoughts,  p.  202. 

2  Chauncy,  p.  212—15. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES,  103 

Island.     In  March,  1740,  he  became  satisfied  that  God  had 
revealed  to  him  that  his  kingdom  was  coming  with  great 
power,  and  that  he  had  an  extraordinary  call  to  labour  for 
its  advancement.     He  assembled  his  people  on  one  occa- 
sion, and  addressed  them,  continuously,  for  nearly  twenty- 
four  hours;  until  he  became  quite  wild.  ^     After  continuing 
for  some  time  his  exciting  labours  in  his  own  neighbour- 
hood, he  passed  over  into  Connecticut.     The  best  and  most 
favourable  account  of  his  erratic  course,  is  given  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Fish,  ^  who  knew  him  intimately.     The  substance 
of  this  account,  given  nearly  in  the  language  of  its  author, 
is  as  follows.     The  good  things  about  him,  says  this  writer, 
were,  that  he  was  a  fast  friend  of  the  doctrines  of  grace; 
fully  declaring  the  total  depravity,  the  deplorable  wretch- 
edness and  danger,  and  utter  inability  of  men  by  the  fall. 
He  preached  with  great  earnestness  the  doctrines  of  man's 
dependance  on  the  sovereign  mercy  of  God;  of  regenera- 
tion; of  justification  by  faith,  &c.     The  things  that  were 
evidently  and  dreadfully  wrong  about  him  were,  that  he 
not  only  gave  full  liberty  to  noise  and  outcries,  but  pro- 
moted them  with  all  his  power.     When  these  things  pre- 
vailed among  the  people,  accompanied  with  bodily  agita- 
tions, the  good  man  pronounced  them  tokens  of  the  presence 
of  God.     Those  who  passed  immediately  from  great  dis- 
tress to  great  joy,  he  declared,  after  asking  them  a  few 
questions,  to  be  converts;  though  numbers  of  such  converts, 
in  a  short  time,  returned  to  their  old  way  of  living,  and 
were  as  carnal,  wicked,  and  void  of  experience,  as  ever 
they  were.     He  was  a  great  favourer  of  visions,  trances, 
imaginations,  and   powerful    impressions   in   others,  and 
made  such  inward  feelings  the  rule  of  his  own  conduct  in 
many  respects.     He  greatly  encouraged  lay  exhorteis,  who 

1  Chauncy,  p.  189.  *  Sermons,  p.  116. 


104  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

■were  soon,  in  many  cases,  preferred  by  the  people  to  the 
letter-learned  rabbles,  scribes,  pharisees,  and  unconverted 
ministers,  phrases  which  the  good  man  would  frequently 
use  with  such  peculiar  marks  not  only  of  odium,  but  of 
indication  as  served  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  the  people 
in  their  ministers.  The  worst  thing,  however,  was  his  bold 
and  daring  enterprise  of  going  through  the  country  to  exa- 
mine all  the  ministers  in  private,  and  then  publicly  declare 
his  judgment  of  their  spiritual  state.  This  he  did  wherever 
he  could  be  admitted  to  examine  them.  Some  that  he 
examined,  (though  for  aught  that  appeared  as  godly  as 
himself,)  were  pronounced  in  his  public  prayer,  immedi- 
ately after  the  examination,  to  be  unconverted.  Those 
who  refused  to  be  examined,  were  sure  to  suffer  the  same 
fate.  By  this  tremendous  step  many  people,  relying  on 
his  judgment,  were  assured  they  had  unconverted  minis- 
ters; others  became  jealous  of  their  pastors;  and  all  were 
told  by  this  wild  man,  that  they  had  as  good  eat  ratsbane 
as  hear  an  unconverted  minister.  In  his  zeal  to  destroy 
idolatry,  that  is,  pride  in  dress,  he  prevailed  upon  a  number 
of  his  followers  in  New  London,  to  cast  into  a  fire,  pre- 
pared for  the  purpose,  each  his  idol.  Whereupon  some 
article  of  dress,  or  some  ornament  was  by  each  stripped  off 
and  committed  to  the  flames.  In  like  zeal  to  root  out 
heresy,  a  number  of  religious  books,  some  of  them  of  real 
excellence,  were  cast  into  the  fire.  ^ 

'  Among  the  books  thus  consumed  were  Beveridge's  Thoughts  on  Reli- 
gion; part  of  Flavel's  works;  one  piece  of  Dr.  Increase  Mather's,  one  of  Dr. 
Colman's,  &c.  &c.  Another  contemporary  gives  us  an  illustration  of  his 
manner  in  the  following  account.  On  one  occasion  having  made  a  fervent 
address,  "  he  called  all  the  distressed  into  the  foremost  seats.  He  then  came 
out  of  the  pulpit  and  stripped  off  his  upper  garments,  got  up  on  the  seats,  and 
leapt  up  and  down  for  some  time,  and  clapt  his  hands,  and  cried  out  in  these 
words :  The  war  goes  on ;  the  fight  goes  on ;  the  devil  goes  down,  the  devil 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  105 

When  he  visited  Saybrook  in  August,  1741,  he  requested 
Mr.  Hart  to  grant  him  the  use  of  his  pulpit.  Mr.  Hart 
repHed,  that  he  wished  to  know  before  he  could  decide  on 
his  application,  whether  he  had  denounced  many  of  his 
fathers  and  brethren  in  the  ministry  as  unconverted.  He 
said  he  had,  and  that  his  object  was  the  purification  of  the 
church,  and  that  he  freely  urged  the  people  not  to  attend 
the  ministry  of  those  whom  he  had  thus  judged.  The 
pulpit  was  of  course  refused  him.  He  then  rose  and  calling 
to  his  adherents,  said,  Come  let  us  go  forth  without  the 
camp,  after  the  Lord  Jesus,  bearing  his  reproach.  Oh  this 
is  pleasant  to  suffer  reproach  for  the  blessed  Jesus,  sweet 
Jesus! 2  How  true  to  nature  this  is!  The  man  who  was 
going  about  the  country  denouncing  ministers,  and  over- 
turning congregations,  complains  of  persecution,  because  a 
pastor  shuts  his  pulpit  against  him. 

Mr.  Davenport  went  to  Boston  in  June,  1742.  He 
attended  the  morning  service  upon  the  Sabbath,  but  in  the 
afternoon  absented  himself  "  from  an  apprehension  of  the 
minister's  being  unconverted,  which,"  says  Mr.  Prince, 
«  greatly  alarmed  us."  The  following  day  the  ministers 
had  a  friendly  conference  with  him,  which  led  to  their  pub- 
lishing a  declaration  testifying  against  his  depending  on 
impulses,  his  condemning  ministers,  his  going  through  the 
streets  singing,  and  his  encouraging  lay  exhorters.  This 
declaration  was  signed  by  fourteen  ministers  of  Boston  and 
Charlestown.  Mr.  Davenport  then  denounced  the  pastors, 
naming  some  as  unconverted,  and  representing  the  rest  as 
Jehoshaphat  in  Ahab's  army,  and  exhorting  the  people  to 

goes  down.     And  he  took  himself  to  stamping  and  screaming  most  dread- 
fully."    Chauncy,  p.  99. 

2  Chauncy,  p.  154,  where  the  account  of  this  interview  signed  by  Mr. 
Hart  and  four  other  persons,  is  given  at  length. 


106 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


separate  from  them.  This,  adds  Mr.  Prince,  put  an  effec- 
tual stop  to  the  revival.  ^ 

The  same  year  he  was  arrested  and  taken  before  the 
legislature  of  Connecticut,  on  the  charge  of  disorderly  con- 
duct. The  assembly  judged  that  although  his  conduct  had 
a  tendency  to  disturb  the  peace,  yet  as  "  the  said  Daven- 
port was  under  the  influence  of  enthusiastical  impressions 
and  impulses,  and  thereby  disordered  in  the  rational  facul- 
ties of  his  mind,  he  is  rather  to  be  pitied  and  compassion- 
ated, than  to  be  treated  as  otherwise  he  might  be."  They 
therefore  ordered  that  he  should  be  transported  out  of  the 
colony,  and  handed  over  to  his  friends.  The  solution  here 
given  of  Davenport's  conduct  is  certainly  the  most  charita- 
ble. That  any  young  man  should  go  about  the  country  to 
examine  grey-headed  ministers  on  their  experience,  de- 
nouncing such  as  would  not  submit  to  his  inquisition; 
declaring  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  church  to  be  uncon- 
verted; exhorting  the  people  to  desert  their  ministry;  mak- 
ing religion  to  consist  in  noisy  excitement,  and  trampling 
on  order  and  decency  in  the  house  of  God,  can  only  be 
accounted  for  on  the  assumption  of  insanity  or  wickedness. 
Davenport's  subsequent  retractions,  his  altered  conduct, 
and  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries,  are  all  in  favour  of 
the  former  solution. 

After  having  pursued  his  disorderly  and  destructive 
course  for  a  number  of  years,  he  was  convinced  of  his 
errors,  and  published  a  confession,  in  which  he  acknow- 
ledged that  he  had  been  influenced  by  a  false  spirit  in  judg- 
ing ministers;  in  exhorting  their  people  to  forsake  their 
ministry;  in  making  impulses  a  rule  of  conduct;  in  encou- 
raging lay  exhorters;  and  in  disorderly  singing  in  the 
streets.     He  speaks  of  the  burning  the  books  and  clothes  at 

•  Christian  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  407 — 8. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  107 

New  London,  as  matter  for  deep  and  lasting  humiliation, 
and  prays  that  God  would  guard  him  from  such  errors  in 
future,  and  stop  the  progress  of  those  who  had  been  cor- 
rupted by  his  word  and  example.^     This  latter  petition 
was  not  granted.     He  found  it  easy  to  kindle  the  flame  of 
fanaticism,  but  impossible  to  quench  it.    "  When  he  came," 
says  Mr.  Fish,  "  to  Stonington,  after  his  recantation,  it  was 
with  such  a  mild,  pleasant,  meek,  and  humble  spirit,  broken 
and  contrite,  as  I  scarce  ever  saw  exceeded  or  equalled. 
He  not  only  owned  his  fault  in  private,  and  in  a  most 
Christian  manner  asked  forgiveness  of  some  ministers  whom 
he  had  before  treated  amiss,  but  in  a  large  assembly  made 
a  public  recantation  of  his  errors  and  mistakes."  ^    This 
same  writer  informs  us,  however,  that  those  who  were 
ready  to  adore  him  in  the  time  of  his  false  zeal,  now 
denounced  him  as  dead,  as  having  joined  with  the  world 
and  carnal  ministers.     The  work  of  disorder  and  division, 
therefore,   went  on,   little  hindered  by  Mr.   Davenport's 
repentance;  and  the  evils  continue  to  this  day.     Davenport 
afterwards  removed  to  New  Jersey,  and  settled  at  Penning- 
ton, within  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick.    His  remains  lie  in  a  grave-yard  attached  to  a  small 
church,  long  since  in  ruins. 

The  censorious  spirit,  which  so  extensively  prevailed  at 
this  period,  was  another  of  those  fountains  of  bitter  waters, 
which  destroyed  the  health  and  vigour  of  the  church. 
That  it  should  characterise  such  acknowledged  fanatics  as 
Davenport  and  his  associates,  is  what  might  be  expected. 
It  was,  however,  the  reproach  and  sin  of  far  better  men. 
Edwards  stigmatises  it,  as  the  worst  disease  which  attend- 
ed the  revival,  « the  most  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  rules  of 

1  Christian  History,  No.  82,  83.    Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  180. 
*  Sermons  quoted  above. 


108  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Christianity,  and  of  the  worst  consequences."  ^  The  evil 
in  question  consists  in  regarding  and  treating,  on  insuffi- 
cient grounds,  those  who  profess  to  be  Christians,  as  though 
they  were  hypocrites.  The  only  adequate  ground  for  pub- 
hcly  discrediting  such  profession,  is  the  denial  of  those  doc- 
trines which  the  Bible  teaches  us  are  essential  to  true  reli- 
gion, or  a  course  of  conduct  incompatible  with  the  Chris- 
tian character.  There  are,  indeed,  cases  where  there  is  no 
want  of  orthodoxy,  and  no  irregularity  of  conduct,  in  which 
we  cannot  avoid  painful  misgivings.  But  such  misgivings 
are  no  sufficient  ground  on  which  to  found  either  public 
declarations,  or  public  treatment  of  those  who  may  be  the 
object  of  them.  Does  any  one  dare,  on  any  such  ground, 
to  declare  a  man  of  reputable  character  a  thief,  or  a  drunk- 
ard, or  to  surmise  away  the  honour  of  a  virtuous  woman? 
Such  conduct  is  not  only  a  sin  against  God,  but  a  penal 
offence  against  society.  Yet  in  no  such  case  is  the  pain 
inflicted,  or  the  mischief  occasioned,  comparable  to  what 
arises  from  taking  from  a  minister  his  character  for  piety, 
and  teaching  the  people  to  regard  him  as  a  hypocrite. 
This  is  often  done,  however,  with  heartless  unconcern.  It 
was  by  the  dreadful  prevalence  of  this  habit  of  censorious 
judging  during  the  revival,  that  the  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple in  their  pastors  was  destroyed,  their  usefulness  arrested, 
their  congregations  divided,  and  the  fire-brands  of  jealousy 
and  malice  cast  into  every  society,  and  almost  into  every 
household.  It  was  this,  more  than  any  thing  else,  that  pro- 
duced that  conflagration  in  which  the  graces,  the  peace, 
and  union  of  the  church  were  consumed.  Though  this 
censorious  spirit  prevailed  most  among  those  who  had  the 
least  reason  to  think  themselves  better  than  others,  it  was 
to  a  lamentable  degree  the  failing  of  really  good  men. 

1  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  238. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  109 

It  is  impossible  to  open  the  journals  of  Whitefield  with- 
out being  painfully  struck,  on  the  one  hand  with  the  fami- 
liar confidence  with  which  he  speaks  of  his  own  religious 
experience,  and  on  the  other  with  the  carelessness  with 
which  he  pronounces  others  to  be  godly  or  graceless,  on 
the  slightest  acquaintance  or  report.  Had  these  journals 
been  the  private  record  of  his  feelings  and  opinions,  this 
conduct  would  be  hard  to  excuse;  but  as  they  were  intended 
for  the  public,  and  actually  given  to  the  world  almost  as 
soon  as  written,  it  constitutes  a  far  more  serious  offence. 
Thus  he  tells  us,  he  called  on  a  clergyman,  (giving  the  initials 
of  his  name,  which,  under  the  circumstances  completely 
identified  him,)  and  was  kindly  received,  but  found  "  he 
had  no  experimental  knowledge  of  the  new  birth."  Such 
intimations  are  slipped  off,  as  though  they  were  matters  of 
indifference.  On  equally  slight  grounds  he  passed  judg- 
ment on  whole  classes  of  men.  After  his  rapid  journey 
through  New  England,  he  published  to  the  world  his  appre- 
hension "  lest  many,  nay  most  that  preach  do  not  experi- 
mentally know  Christ."  ^  After  being  six  days  in  Boston, 
he  recorded  his  opinion,  derived  from  what  he  heard,  that 
the  state  of  Cambridge  college  for  piety  and  true  godliness, 
was  not  better  than  that  of  the  English  universities,  ^  which 
he  elsewhere  says,  "  were  sunk  into  mere  seminaries  of 
paganism,  Christ  or  Christianity  being  scarce  so  much  as 
named  among  them."  Of  Yale  he  pronounces  the  same 
judgment,  saying  of  it  and  Harvard,  "  their  light  is  now 
become  darkness,  darkness  that  may  be  felt."  A  vindica- 
tion of  Harvard  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Wiggles- 
worth,  a  man  "  so  conspicuous  for  his  talents,  and  so  exem- 
plary for  every  Christian  virtue,"  that  he  was  unanimously 
appointed  the  first  Hollis  professor  of  divinity  in  the  college. 

»  New  England  Journal,  p.  95.  2  Ibid.  p.  12. 

10 


110  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

The  president  of  Yale,  at  that  time,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Clap, 
an  orthodox  and  learned  man,  "  exemplary  for  piety,"  and 
zealous  for  the  truth.  ^  Whitefield  was  much  in  the  habit 
of  speaking  of  ministers  as  being  unconverted,  so  that  the 
consequence  was,  that  in  a  country  where  "  the  preaching 
and  conversation  of  far  the  bigger  part  of  the  ministers  were 
undeniably  as  became  the  gospel,  such  a  spirit  of  jealousy 
and  evil  surmising  was  raised  by  the  influence  and  exam 
pie  of  a  young  foreigner,  that  perhaps  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle town,"  either  in  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut,  in  which 
many  of  the  people  were  not  so  prejudiced  against  their 
pastors,  as  to  be  rendered  very  unlikely  to  be  benefitted  by 
them.  ^  This  is  the  testimony  of  men  who  had  received 
Mr.  Whitefield,  on  his  first  visit,  with  open  arms.  They 
add,  that  the  etfect  of  his  preaching,  and  of  that  of  Mr. 
Tennent,  was,  that  before  he  left  New  England,  ministers 
were  commonly  spoken  of  as  pharisees  and  unconverted.  ^ 
The  fact  is,  Whitefield  had,  in  England,  got  into  the  habit 
of  taking  it  for  granted,  that  every  minister  was  unconvert- 
ed, unless  he  had  special  evidence  to  the  contrary.  This 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  since,  according  to  all  contempo- 
raneous accounts,  the  great  majority  of  the  episcopal  clergy 
of  that  day,  did  not  profess  to  hold  the  doctrines  of  grace,  ' 
nor  to  believe  in  what  Whitefield  considered  experimental 
religion.  There  was,  therefore,  no  great  harm  in  taking 
for  granted  that  men  had  not,  what  they  did  not  profess  to 
have.  When,  however,  he  came  to  New  England,  where 
the  great  majority  of  the  ministers  still  continued  to  profess 
the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  laid  claim  to  the  character  of 
experimental  Christians  in  Whitefield's  own  sense  of  the 

'  Allen's  American  Biographical  Dictionary. 

2  Letter  to  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield  by  Edward  Wigglesworth,  in  the 
name  of  the  faculty  of  Harvard  College,  1745.  ^  ibid.  p.  60. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  HI 

term,  it  was  a  great  injustice  to  proceed  on  the  assumption 
that  these  claims  were  false,  and  take  it  for  granted  that  all 
were  graceless  who  had  not  to  him  exhibited  evidence  to 
the  contrary. 

The  same  excuse  cannot  be  made  for  Mr.  Tennent;  and 
as  his  character  was  more  impetuous,  so  his  censures  were 
more  sweeping  and  his  denunciations  more  terrible  than 
those  of  Whitefield.  It  has  been  already  mentioned,  that 
in  1740,  he  read  a  paper  before  the  synod  of  Philadelphia, 
to  prove  that  many  of  his  brethren  were  '''rotten-hearted 
hypocrites;"  assigning  reasons  for  that  belief,  which  would 
not  have  justified  the  exclusion  of  any  private  member 
from  the  communion  of  the  church.  About  the  same  time 
he  published  his  famous  sermon  on  an  unconverted  minis- 
try, which  is  one  of  the  most  terrible  pieces  of  denunciation 
in  the  English  language.  The  picture  there  drawn,  he 
afterwards  very  clearly  intimated,  (what  was  indeed  never 
doubted,)  was  intended  for  a  large  portion  of  his  own  minis- 
terial brethren.  As,  however,  this  conduct  was  one  of  the 
main  causes  of  the  schism  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  occurred  in  1741,  it  will  more  properly  come  under 
consideration  in  the  following  chapter. 

The  great  sinfulness  of  this  censorious  spirit,  and  his 
own  offences  in  this  respect,  Mr.  Tennent  afterwards  very 
penitently  acknowledged.  In  a  letter  to  President  Dick- 
inson, dated  February  12,  1742,  he  says,  "I  have  had 
many  afflicting  thoughts  about  the  debates  which  have 
subsisted  for  some  time  in  our  synod.  I  would  to  God  the 
breach  were  healed,  were  it  the  will  of  the  Almighty.  As 
for  my  own  part,  wherein  I  have  mismanaged  in  doing 
what  I  did,  I  do  look  upon  it  to  be  my  duty,  and  should 
be  willing  to  acknowledge  it  in  the  openest  manner.  I 
cannot  justify   the  excessive  heat  of  temper  which  has 


112  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

sometime  appeared  in  my  conduct.  I  have  been  of  late, 
(since  I  returned  from  New  England,)  visited  with  much 
spiritual  desertion  and  distresses  of  various  kinds,  coming 
in  a  thick  and  almost  continual  succession,  which  have 
given  me  a  greater  discovery  of  myself,  than  I  think  I  ever 
had  before.  These  things,  with  the  trial  of  the  Moravians, 
have  given  me  a  clear  view  of  the  danger  of  every  thing 
which  tends  to  enthusiasm  and  division  in  the  visible 
church.  I  think  that  while  the  enthusiastical  Moravians, 
and  Long-Beards,  or  Pietists,  are  uniting  their  bodies,  (no 
doubt  to  increase  their  strength  and  render  themselves  more 
considerable.)  it  is  a  shame  that  the  ministers,  who  are  in 
the  main  of  sound  principles  of  religion,  should  be  divided 
and  quarrelling.  Alas,  for  it,  my  soul  is  sick  for  these 
things.  I  wish  that  some  scriptural  healing  methods  could 
be  fallen  upon  to  put  an  end  to  these  confusions.  Some 
time  since  I  felt  a  disposition  to  fall  upon  my  knees,  if  I 
had  opportunity,  to  entreat  them  to  be  at  peace.  1  add  no 
more  at  present,  but  humble  and  hearty  salutations;  and 
remain  with  all  due  honor  and  respect,  your  poor  worthless 
brother  in  the  gospel  ministry. 

"P.  S.  I  break  open  the  letter  myself,  to  add  my 
thoughts  about  some  extraordinary  things  in  Mr.  Daven- 
port's conduct.  As  to  his  making  his  judgment  about  the 
internal  state  of  persons,  or  their  experience,  a  term  of 
church  fellowship,  I  believe  it  is  unscriptural,  and  of 
awful  tendency  to  rend  and  tear  the  church.  It  is  bot- 
tomed upon  a  false  base,  viz:  That  a  certain  and  infallible 
knowledge  of  the  good  estate  of  men  is  attainable  in  this 
life,  from  their  experience.  The  practice  is  schismatical, 
inasmuch  as  it  sets  up  a  new  term  of  communion  which 
Christ  has  not  fixed. 

"  The  late  method  of  setting  up  separate  meetings  upon 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  113 

the  supposed  imregeneracy  of  pastors  of  places,  is  enthusi- 
astical,  proud,  and  schismatical.  All  that  fear  God  ought 
to  oppose  it,  as  a  most  dangerous  engine  to  bring  the 
churches  into  the  most  damnable  errors  and  confusions. 
The  practice  is  built  upon  a  two-fold  false  hypothesis,  viz: 
Infallibility  of  knowledge,  and  that  unconverted  ministers 
will  be  used  as  instruments  of  no  good  to  the  church. 

"  The  practice  of  openly  exposing  ministers  who  are 
supposed  to  be  unconverted,  in  public  discourse,  by  parti- 
cular application  of  such  times  and  places,  serves  only  to 
provoke  them,  instead  of  doing  them  any  good,  and  to 
declare  our  own  arrogance.  It  is  an  unprecedented,  divi- 
sial,  and  pernicious  practice.  It  is  lording  it  over  our 
brethren  to  a  degree  superior  to  what  any  prelate  has  pre- 
tended since  the  coming  of  Christ,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
pope  only  excepted;  though  I  really  do  not  remember  to 
have  read  that  the  pope  went  on  at  this  rate. 

"  The  sending  out  of  unlearned  men  to  teach  others,  upon 
the  supposition  of  their  piety,  in  ordinary  cases,  seems  to 
bring  the  ministry  into  contempt ;  to  cherish  enthusiasm, 
and  bring  all  into  confusion.  Whatever  fair  face  it  may 
have,  it  is  a  most  perverse  practice.  The  practice  of  singing 
in  the  streets  is  a  piece  of  weakness  and  enthusiastical 
ostentation. 

"  I  wish  you  success,  dear  Sir,  in  your  journey;  my  soul 
is  grieved  for  such  enthusiastical  fooleries.  They  portend 
much  mischief  to  the  poor  church  of  God,  if  they  be  not 
seasonably  checked.  May  your  labours  be  blessed  for  that 
end.  I  must  also  express  my  abhorrence  of  all  pretence  to 
immediate  inspiration,  or  following  immediate  impulses,  as 
an  enthusiastical  perilous  ignis  fatuus."  ^ 

»  The  above  letter  was  printed  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  12, 
1742 ;  and  transcribed  into  Mr.  Hazard's  MSS. 

10* 


114  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

A  few  years  later,  when  the  evils  ansmg  from  the  rash 
denunciation  of  professing  Christians  and  ministers  had 
become  more  apparent,  Mr.  Tennent  protested  against  it  in 
the  strongest  terms.  "It  is  cruel  and  censorious  judging," 
he  says,  "  to  condemn  the  state  of  those  we  know  not,  and 
to  condemn  positively  and  openly  the  spiritual  state  of  such 
as  are  sound  in  fundamental  doctrines,  and  regular  in  life. 
The  way  to  obtain  quickening  grace  is  the  path  of  duty, 
and  not  the  scandalous  practice  of  that  God-provoking, 
church-rending  iniquity,  rash  judging.  This  may  quicken 
indeed,  but  not  to  any  thing  good,  but  to  backbiting,  slan- 
dering, wrath,  and  malignity,  and  all  manner  of  mischief. 
Oh  that  a  gracious  God  would  open  the  eyes  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  to  see  the  inexpressible  baseness  and  horrors 
of  this  detestable  impiety,  which  is  pregnant  with  innume- 
rable evils."  ^  He  even  denies  the  right  of  any  man  to 
judge  of  the  spiritual  state  of  others  on  the  ground  of  their 
inward  experience,  or  to  make  such  judgment  the  ground 
of  his  public  conduct  towards  them.  "  The  terms  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship,"  he  says,  "which  God  has  fixed,  are  sound- 
ness in  the  main  doctrines  of  religion,  and  a  regular  life.  I 
know  of  no  passage  of  the  Bible  that  proves  converting 
grace,  or  the  church's  judgment  of  it,  to  be  a  term  of  Chris- 
tian communion,  of  divine  appointment."  ^  And  in  another 
place,  he  says,  "  I  desire  to  know  where  Almighty  God  has 
given  any  of  the  children  of  men  the  right  to  inspect  into 
the  spiritual  experiences  of  others,  so  as  to  make  our  judg- 
ment of  them,  abstract  from  their  doctrine  and  life,  the 
ground  of  our  opinion  concerning  the  state  of  their  souls, 
and  of  our  public  conduct  towards  them.  For  my  part  I 
know  of  no  place  in  Scripture  which  gives  such  a  power  to 

'  Irenicum,   or   Plea  for  the   peace  of  Jerusalem,  by  Gilbert  Tennent. 
Philadelphia,  1749,  p.  90.  2  ibid.  p.  79. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  115 

any  of  the  sons  of  men,  and  much  less  to  every  man."  ^ 
Yet  this  good  man  allowed  himself  publicly  to  denounce  as 
graceless,  multitudes  of  his  brethren,  whom  he  admitted  to 
be  sound  in  the  faith  and  orderly  in  their  lives,  and  thus 
greatly  aided  in  producing  that  state  of  confusion  and 
strife,  which  he  afterwards  so  strenuously  laboured  to 
correct. 

The  extent  to  which  the  sin  of  censoriousness  prevailed 
during  this  revival,  may  be  inferred,  not  only  from  the 
complaints  of  those  who  were  unrighteously  condemned, 
but  from  the  frequency  with  which  it  was  testified  against 
by  the  best  friends  of  religion,  and  the  confessions  of  some 
of  those  who  had  most  grievously  offended  in  this  respect. 
One  great  evil  of  this  spirit  is,  that  it  is  contagious,  and  in 
a  sense,  hereditary.  That  is,  there  always  will  be  men 
disposed  to  rake  up  the  sins  and  errors  of  these  pious 
denouncers;  and  on  the  score  of  these  deformities,  to  pro- 
claim themselves  the  Tennents  and  Whitefields  of  their  own 
generation.  If  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  love,  joy, 
peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
then  may  we  be  sure  that  a  proud,  arrogant,  denunciatory, 
self-confident,  and  self-righteous  spirit  is  not  of  God;  and 
that  any  work  which  claims  to  be  a  revival  of  religion,  and 
is  characterized  by  such  a  spirit,   is  so  far  spurious  and 

'  Irenicum,  or  Plea  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem.  By  Gilbert  Tcnncnt 
Philadelphia,  1749,  p.  55. — On  page  79,  he  haB  the  following  note.  "I  cannot 
find  that  the  Cliristians  of  the  first  three  centuries  after  Christ,  made  gracious 
experiences,  or  the  church's  judgment  about  them,  terms  of  communion. 
They  made  no  inquiries  about  them  as  to  baptism,  and  all  that  were  bap- 
tised, and  of  adult  age  and  free  from  church  censure,  were  admitted  to  the 
sacrament."  A  few  years  before  he  charged  some  of  his  brethren  with 
acting  on  this  principle,  (though  they  denied  it,)  and  made  it  one  of  his  most 
prominent  reasons  for  believing  them  to  be  unconverted.  See  the  paper 
which  was  read  before  the  synod  in  1740. 


116  FRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

fanatical.  All  attempts  to  account  for,  or  excuse  such  a 
temper  on  the  ground  of  uncommon  manifestations,  or 
uncommon  hatred  of  sin,  or  extraordinary''  zeal  for  holiness 
and  the  salvation  of  souls,  are  but  apologies  for  sin.  The 
clearer  our  apprehensions  of  God,  the  greater  will  be  our 
reverence  and  humility;  the  more  distinct  our  views  of 
eternal  things,  the  greater  will  be  our  solemnity  and  care- 
fulness; the  more  we  know  of  sin,  of  our  own  hearts,  and 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  more  shall  we  be  forbearing,  forgiving, 
and  lamb-like,  in  our  disposition  and  conduct.  "  Gracious 
affections  do  not  tend  to  make  men  bold,  noisy,  and  boiste- 
rous; but  rather  to  speak  trembling.  When  Ephraim  spake 
trembling,  he  exalted  himself  in  Israel."  ^  The  evidence 
from  Scripture  is  full  and  abundant,  "that  those  who  are 
truly  gracious  are  under  the  government  of  the  lamb-like, 
dove-like  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  is  essentially  and 
eminently  the  nature  of  the  saving  grace  of  the  gospel,  and 
the  proper  spirit  of  true  Christianity.  We  may  therefore 
undoubtedly  determine  that  all  truly  Christian  affections 
are  attended  with  this  spirit,  that  this  is  the  natural  ten- 
dency of  the  fear  and  hope,  the  sorrow  and  joy,  the  confi- 
dence and  zeal  of  true  Christians."  ^ 

Another  of  the  evils  of  this  period  of  excitement,  was  the 
disregard  shown  to  the  common  rules  of  ecclesiastical  order, 
especially  in  the  course  pursued  by  itinerant  preachers  and 
lay  exhorters.  With  respect  to  the  former,  no  one  com- 
plained of  regularly  ordained  ministers  acting  the  part  of 
evangelists;  that  is,  of  their  going  to  destitute  places,  and 
preaching  the  gospel  to  those,  who  would  not  otherwise 
have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  it.  The  thing  complained 
of  was,  that  these  itinerants  came  into  the  parishes  of 
settled  ministers,  and  without  their  knowledge,  or  against 

1  Edwards  on  the  Affections,  p.  393.  2  Ibid.  p.  387. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  117 

their  wishes,  insisted  on  preaching  to  the  people.  This 
was  a  thing  of  very  frequent,  almost  daily  occurrence,  and 
was  a  fruitful  source  of  heart-burnings  and  divisions. 

It  is  the  plain  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  common 
understanding  of  the  Christian  church,  that  the  pastoral 
relation  is  of  divine  appointment.  Ministers  are  com- 
manded to  take  heed  to  the  flocks  over  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  made  them  overseers.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
made  one  man  an  overseer  of  a  flock,  what  right  has  ano- 
ther man  to  interfere  with  his  charge  ?  This  relation  not 
only  imposes  duties,  but  it  also  confers  rights.  It  imposes 
the  duties  of  teaching  and  governing;  of  watching  for  souls 
as  those  who  must  give  an  account.  It  confers  the  right 
to  claim  obedience  as  spiritual  instructors  and  governors. 
Hence  the  people  are  commanded  to  obey  them  that  have 
the  rule  over  them,  and  to  submit  themselves.  They  have 
indeed  the  right  to  select  their  pastor,  but  having  selected 
him,  they  are  bound  by  the  authority  of  God,  to  submit  to 
him  as  s\ich.  They  have  moreover,  in  extreme  cases,  the 
right  to  desert  or  discard  him;  as  a  wife  has  in  extreme 
cases,  the  right  to  leave  her  husband,  or  a  child  to  renounce 
the  authority  of  a  parent.  But  this  cannot  be  done  for 
slight  reasons,  without  off"ending  God.  In  like  manner,  as 
a  stranger  has  a  right,  in  extreme  cases,  to  take  a  child 
from  the  control  and  instruction  of  a  father,  or  withdraw  a 
wife  from  the  authority  and  custody  of  her  husband,  so 
also  there  are  cases,  in  which  he  may  interfere  between  a 
pastor  and  his  people.  Interference  in  any  one  of  these 
cases,  is  a  violation  of  divinely  recognized  rights;  and  to 
be  innocent,  must,  in  every  instance,  have  an  adequate 
justification. 

Mr.  Tennent  admitted  these   principles  to  their  fullest 
extent;  he  justified  his  conduct  and  that  of  his  associates 


118  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

on  the  ground,  that  the  ordinary  rules  of  ecclesiastical  order 
cease  to  be  obligatory  in  times  of  general  declension.  ^ 
When  the  majority  of  ministers  are  unconverted  men,  and 
contentedly  unsuccessful  in  their  work,  it  was,  he  main- 
tained, the  right  of  any  one  who  could,  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  their  people,  and  the  duty  of  the  people  to  forsake 
the  ministrations  of  their  pastors.  Admitting  the  correct- 
ness of  this  principle,  when  can  it  properly  be  applied? 
When  may  it  be  lawfully  taken  for  granted,  that  a  minister 
is  unconverted  and  unfit  for  his  office  ?  According  to  Ten- 
nent's  own  sober  and  deliberate  judgment,  this  could  be 
rightfully  done  only  when  he  either  rejected  some  funda- 
mental doctrine,  or  was  immoral  in  his  conduct.  And  even 
when  this  was  the  case,  the  obviously  correct  course  would 
be,  to  endeavour  to  have  him  removed  from  office  by  a 
competent  authority.  Not  until  this  had  been  proved  to  be 
impossible,  would  any  man  be  justified  in  trampling  upon 
the  rights  of  a  brother  minister.  The  conduct  of  Mr.  Ten- 
nent  and  that  of  his  associates,  cannot  stand  the  test  of  his 
own  principles.  They  not  only  made  no  effort  to  have 
those  ministers  removed  from  office,  whom  they  regarded 
as  unregenerate  or  unfaithful,  but  they  chose  to  assume 
them  to  be  unconverted,  and  on  the  ground  of  that  assump- 
tion to  enter  their  congregations,  and  to  exhort  the  people 
to  forsake  their  ministry,  though  they  admitted  them  to 
be  sound  in  all  the  main  articles  of  religion,  and  regular  in 
their  lives.     This  disorderly  course  was,  in  many  cases, 

1  Speaking  of  such  rules,  which  he  had  enforced  with  great  earnestness 
in  his  discourse  against  the  Moravians,  he  says,  in  vindication  of  his  con- 
sistency, "  On  the  supposition  that  a  number  of  ministers  are  either  unsound 
in  doctrine,  or  unfaithful  and  contentedly  unsuccessful  in  their  work,  then  is 
it  not  lawful  to  suspend  the  aforesaid  rules  for  a  season  ?" — Remarks  on  the 
Protest,  by  which  the  members  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery  were 
excluded  from  synod. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  119 

productive  of  shameful  conflicts,  and  was  in  general  one  of 
the  most  crying  evils  of  the  times. 

Whitefield  far  out-did  Mr.  Tennent,  as  to  this  point.  He 
admitted  none  of  the  principles  which  Mr.  Tennent  believ- 
ed, in  ordinary  times,  ought  to  be  held  sacred.  He  assum- 
ed the  right,  in  virtue  of  his  ordination,  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel wherever  he  had  an  opportunity,  "  even  though  it 
should  be  in  a  place  where  officers  were  already  settled, 
and  the  gospel  was  fully  and  faithfully  preached.  This,  I 
humbly  apprehend,"  he  adds,  "  is  every  gospel  minister's 
indisputable  privilege."  ^  It  mattered  not  whether  the  pas- 
tors who  thus  fully  and  faithfully  preached  the  gospel, 
were  willing  to  consent  to  the  intrusion  of  the  itinerant 
evangelist  or  not.  "  If  pulpits  should  be  shut,"  he  says, 
«  blessed  be  God,  the  fields  are  open,  and  I  can  go  without 
the  camp,  bearing  the  Redeemer's  reproach.  This  I  glory 
in;  believing  if  I  suffer  it,  I  suffer  for  righteousness'  sake."  ^ 
If  Whitefield  had  the  right  here  claimed,  then  of  course 
Davenport  had  it,  and  so  every  fanatic  and  erronst  has  it. 
This  doctrine  is  entirely  inconsistent  with  what  the  Bible 
teaches  of  the  nature  of  the  pastoral  relation,  and  with 
every  form  of  ecclesiastical  government,  episcopal,  presby- 
terian,  or  congregational.  Whatever  plausible  pretences 
may  be  urged  in  its  favour,  it  has  never  been  acted  upon 
without  producing  the  greatest  practical  evils. 

As  soon  as  this  habit  of  itinerant  preaching  within  the 
bounds  of  settled  congregations,  began  to  prevail,  it  excited 
a  lively  opposition.  The  synod  of  Philadelphia  twice  una- 
nimously resolved  that  no  minister  should  preach  in  any 
congregation  without  the  consent  of  the  presbytery  to 
which  the  congregation  belonged.  ^     As  soon,  however,  as 

»  Whitefield's  letter  to  the  president,  professors,  &c.  of  Harvard  College. 
Boston,  1745 :  p.  17.  -  Ibid.  p.  22. 

^  See  Part  First  of  this  History,  p.  247. 


120  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  revival  fairly  commenced,  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  asso- 
ciates refused  to  be  bound  by  the  rule;  and,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  it   was  given  up.     The  legislature  of  Connecticut 
made  it  penal  for  any  minister  to  preach  within  the  bounds 
of  the  parish  of  another  minister,  unless  duly  invited  by  the 
pastor  and  people.  ^    The  General  Association  of  Connec- 
ticut, in  1742,  after  giving  thanks  for  the  revival,  bear  their 
testimony  against  "ministers  disorderly  intruding  into  other 
ministers'   parishes,"  ^     The   convention  of  ministers  of 
Massachusetts,  in    1743,  declared   this  kind  of  itinerant 
preaching,  "  without  the  knowledge,  or  against  the  leave  of 
settled  pastors,"  to  be  "a  breach  of  order,  and  contrary  to 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  sentiments  of  our  fathers,  expressed 
in  their  Platform  of  Church  Discipline,"  ^     And  the  assem- 
bly of  pastors  held  at  Boston,  July,  1743,  in  their  testimony 
in  behalf  of  the  revival,  express  it  as  their  judgment  "  that 
ministers  do  not  invade  the  province  of  others,  and,  in  ordi- 
nary cases,  preach  in  another's  parish,  without  his  know- 
ledge and  consent,"  ■*     Notwithstanding  this  general  con- 
currence among  the  friends  of  religion,  in  condemning  this 
disorderly  practice,  it   prevailed  to   a  great   extent,  and 
resulted  in  dividing  congregations,  unsettling  ministers,  and 
introducing  endless  contentions  and  confusion. 

As  to  lay  preaching,  though  of  frequent  occurrence,  it 
found  little   favour   with    any  but    the   openly  fanatical. 

•  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  vol,  ii.  p.  162,  "  Ibid,  vol,  ii,  p.  173. 

3  Testimony  of  the  pastors  of  churches  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts- 
Bay,  at  their  annual  convention  in  Boston,  May  25,  1743,  pages  6,  7, 

■*  Some  of  the  ministers  present  on  that  occasion  signed  this  testimony 
and  advice  as  to  the  substance  merely,  which  Mr.  Prince  informs  us,  was 
owing  principally  to  the  clause  above  cited.  Some  of  the  pastors  thought 
that  it  was  not  explicit  enough  against  the  practice  which  it  condemned, 
while  others  thought  it  might  "  be  perverted  to  the  great  infringement  of 
Christian  and  human  liberty." — Christian  History,  vol.  i.  p.  138. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  121 

Tennent  in  a  letter  to  Edwards,  written  probably  in  the 
autumn  of  1741,  says,  "As  to  the  subject  you  mentioned, 
of  laymen  being  sent  out  to  exhort  and  teach,  supposing 
them  to  be  real  converts,  I  cannot  but  think,  if  it  be  encou- 
raged and  continued,  it  will  be  of  dreadful  consequence  to 
the  church's  peace  and  soundness  in  the  faith.  It  is  base 
presumption,  whatever  zeal  be  pretended  to,  notwithstand- 
ing, for  any  persons  to  take  this  honour  to  themselves, 
unless  they  be  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron.  I  know  most 
young  zealots  are  apt,  through  ignorance,  inconsideration, 
and  pride  of  heart,  to  undertake  what  they  have  no  proper 
qualifications  for;  and  through  their  imprudence  and  enthu- 
siasm the  church  of  God  suffers.  1  think  all  that  fear  God 
should  rise  and  crush  the  enthusiastic  creature  in  the  egg. 
Dear  brother,  the  times  are  dangerous.  The  churches  in 
America  and  elsewhere  are  in  great  danger  of  enthusiasm; 
we  need  to  think  of  the  maxim  principiis  obsta.''  ^  This 
irregularity  was  freely  condemned  also  by  the  association 
of  Connecticut,  the  convention  of  Massachusetts,  and  the 
assembly  of  pastors  in  Boston,  in  the  documents  already 
referred  to.  Yet  it  was  through  the  influence  of  these  lay 
exhorters,  encouraged  by  a  few  such  ministers  as  Daven- 
port, and  Mr.  Park,  of  Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  ^  that  fana- 
ticism and  false  religion  were  most  eflectually  promoted 
among  the  churches. 

This  is  a  formidable  array  of  evils.  Yet  as  the  friends  of 
the  revival  testify  to  their  existence,  no  conscientious  histo- 
rian dare  either  conceal  or  extenuate  them.  There  was 
too  little  discrimination  between  true  and  false  religious 
feeling.  There  was  too  much  encouragement  given  to  out- 
cries, faintings,  and  bodily  agitations,  as  probable  evidence 
of  the  presence  and  power  of  God.     There  was,  in  many, 

1  Life  of  Edwards,  p.  153.  '>  See  Gillies,  vol.  ii.  p.  292. 

11 


122  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,   ETC. 

too  much  reliance  on  impulses,  visioiTs,  and  the  pretended 
power  of  discerning  spirits.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
censoriousness,  and  of  a  sinful  disregard  of  ecclesiastical 
order.  The  disastrous  effects  of  these  evils,  the  rapid 
spread  of  false  religion,  the  dishonour  and  decline  of  true 
piety,  the  prevalence  of  erroneous  doctrines,  the  division  of 
congregations,  the  alienation  of  Christians,  and  the  long 
period  of  subsequent  deadness  in  the  church,  stand  up  as  a 
solemn  warning  to  Christians,  and  especially  to  Christian 
ministers  in  all  times  to  come.  It  was  thus  in  the  strong 
language  of  Edwards,  the  devil  prevailed  against  the  revi- 
val. "  It  is  by  this  means  that  the  daughter  of  Zion  in  this 
land,  now  lies  in  such  piteous  circumstances,  with  her  gar- 
ments rent,  her  face  disfigured,  her  nakedness  exposed,  her 
limbs  broken,  and  weltering  in  the  blood  of  her  own 
wounds,  and  in  nowise  able  to  rise,  and  this  so  soon  after 
her  late  great  joys  and  hopes."  ^ 

Though  this,  being  true,  should  be  known  and  well  con- 
sidered, that  the  guilt  and  danger  of  propagating  false  reli- 
gion and  spurious  excitement,  may  be  understood,  yet  we 
are  not  to  forget  or  undervalue  the  great  good  which  was 
then  accomplished.  In  many  places  there  was  little  of 
these  evils,  especially  in  New  Jersey  and  Virginia,  Dick- 
inson and  Davies  successfully  resisted  their  inroads  within 
the  sphere  of  their  influence.  And  in  many  other  places 
the  soundness  of  the  doctrines  taught,  the  experience  de- 
tailed, and  the  permanent  effects  produced,  abundantly 
attest  the  genuineness  of  the  revival.  To  the  Presbyterian 
Church  particularly,  it  was  the  commencement  of  a  new 
life,  the  vigour  of  which  is  still  felt  in  all  her  veins. 

1  Preface  to  his  Treatise  on  the  Affections,  written  in  1746. 


123 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE      SCHISM,      1741. 

Tlie  act  of  synod  relating  to  itinerant  preaching-,  passed  in  1737. — The  act 
relating  to  the  examination  of  candidates,  passed  in  1738. — These  acts 
disobeyed  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick.— That  presbytery  cen- 
sured by  the  synod. — They  present  their  apology  in  1739. — Analysis  of 
that  apology. — The  presbytery  continue  to  disobey  the  synod. — The  pro- 
priety of  their  conduct  considered. — The  effects  of  this  controversy  upon 
the  congregations  and  other  presbyteries. — The  efforts  made  in  1740  to 
compromise  the  difficulty.— Failure  of  these  efforts.- Mr.  G.  Tcnnent  and 
Mr.  Blair  read  before  the  synod  two  papers  containing  complaints  against 
their  brethren. — Mr.  Tennent  preaches  his  sermon  on  the  dangers  of  an 
unconverted  ministry. — Analysis  of  that  sermon. — The  complaints  against 
Mr.  Temient  and  his  friends  for  rash-judging,  and  for  intruding  into  settled 
congregations,  and  promoting  divisions. — These  complaints  brought  before 
the  presbyteries. — The  cases  of  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead,  and  of  Mr. 
David  Alexander  before  the  presbytery  of  Donegal. — The  synod  meets  in 
1741  in  the  midst  of  these  controversies. — The  case  of  Mr.  Creaghead 
taken  up,  and  leads  to  a  serious  contention. — Mr.  Robert  Cross  reads  a 
protest  against  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  being  allowed  to  sit  as  mem- 
bers of  synod,  which  is  signed  by  twelve  ministers  and  eight  elders. — This 
protest  throws  the  synod  into  confusion,  and  leads  to  the  irregular  exclu- 
sion of  nine  ministers. — The  proceedings  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  their  correspondents  immediately  after  the  schism. — The  efforts 
made  by  the  members  of  the  presbytery  of  New  York  in  1742  to  heal  the 
schism ;  similar  efforts  made  in  1743  and  in  1745.— These  efforts  having 
failed,  the  synod  of  New  York  formed  in  September  1745.— The  points  of 
difference  between  the  two  parties  considered. — The  nature  and  extent  of 
the  opposition  to  the  revival  examined.— How  far  the  parties  differed  as  to 
the  importance  of  learning,  as  to  points  of  doctrine,  and  principles  of 
churcli  government  considered. — The  true  cause  of  the  schism  stated. 

In  order  properly  to  understand  the  origin  and  causes  of 
the  schism,  which  in  1741  divided  the  Presbyterian  Church, 


124  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

it  will  be  necessary  briefly  to  recapitulate  some  of  the  facts 
recorded  in  the  third  chapter  of  this  history.  It  may  be 
remembered,  that  in  1737,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  synod 
which  prohibited  the  members  of  one  presbytery  preaching 
to  the  congregations  under  the  care  of  another  presbytery, 
without  a  regular  invitation.  In  the  following  year  this  rule 
was  somewhat  modified,  and  unanimously  re-enacted.  ^  It 
was  not  the  design  of  this  rule  to  prohibit  itinerant  preach- 
ing; a  service  which  its  advocates  every  year  commissioned 
men  to  perform.  It  was  intended  to  prevent  the  irregular 
intrusion  of  one  minister  or  presbytery  upon  the  acknow- 
ledged bounds  of  another.  Under  ordinary  circumstances 
such  a  rule  would  have  excited  no  opposition.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  it  was  twice  unanimously  adopted. 
When,  however,  the  revival  had  fairly  begun,  and  a  num- 
ber of  ministers  had  devoted  themselves  to  preaching  from 
place  to  place,  they  were  unwilling  to  be  trammelled  by 
such  rules,  or  to  abstain  from  preaching  in  a  particular 
congregation  because  "a  graceless  minister,"  or  lukewarm 
presbytery  might  take  offence.  They  urged,  that  under 
extraordinary  circumstances,  such  rules  should  be  laid 
aside. 

A  more  serious  difficulty  arose  from  the  passage  of  ano- 
ther act.  In  1738,  the  synod  resolved  that,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  admission  of  uneducated  men  into  the  ministry, 
every  candidate  for  the  sacred  office,  before  he  was  taken 
on  trial,  should  be  furnished  with  a  diploma  of  graduation 
from  some  European  or  New  England  college,  or  with  a 
certificate  of  competent  scholarship  from  a  committee  of 
the  synod.  The  same  year  the  presbytery  of  New  Bruns- 
wick Avas  formed.  It  met  for  the  first  time  August  8, 
1738,  and  on  the  same  day  application  was  made  by  Mr. 

1  Part  First  of  this  History,  Chapter  III.  p.  247. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  ]  25 

John  Rowland  to  be  taken  "  on  trial  in  order  to  his  being 
licensed  to  preach  the  gospel."  "  The  presbytery  thereon 
entered  on  a  serious  consideration  of  the  act  of  last  synod, 
appointing  that  young  men  should  be  first  examined  by  a 
commission  of  synod,  and  obtain  a  testimony  of  their 
approbation,  before  they  are  to  be  taken  on  trials  by  any 
presbytery  belonging  to  the  same;  and,  after  much  rea- 
soning on  the  case,  the  presbytery  came  to  this  unanimous 
conclusion,  viz:  That  they  were  not  in  point  of  conscience, 
restrained  by  said  act  from  using  the  liberty  and  power 
which  presbyteries  have  all  along  hitherto  enjoyed;  but 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  take  the  said  Mr.  Rowland  upon 
trial,  for  which  conclusion  they  conceive  they  have  several 
weighty  and  sufficient  reasons."  ^  The  presbytery,  accord- 
ingly entered  upon  his  examination,  and  assigned  him  the 
usual  exercises  to  present  at  their  next  meeting.  On  the 
7th  of  the  following  September,  the  presbytery  having  sus- 
tained his  examination,  and  heard  him  profess  "  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  to  be  the  confession  of  his 
faith,"  granted  him  "  free  license  and  liberty  to  preach  the 
gospel  of  Christ."  2 

The  following  year,  1739,  when  the  records  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick  came  to  be  reviewed  by  the 
synod,  that  body  declared  the  licensing  of  Mr.  Rowland 
"  to  be  very  disorderly,  and  admonished  the  said  presby- 
tery to  avoid  such  divisive  courses  for  the  future;  and 
determined  not  to  admit  the  said  Mr.  Rowland  to  be  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel  within  our  bounds,  nor  to  encourage 
any  of  our  people  to  accept  him,  until  he  submit  to  such 
examinations  as  were  appointed  by  this  synod  for  those 
that  have  had  a  private  education.     This  overture,"  it  is 

•  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  pp.  1  and  2. 
2  Ibid.  p.  3. 

11* 


126  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

added,  ''was  carried  in  the   affirmative  by  a  great  ma- 
jority." ^ 

The  presbytery  seem  to  have  anticipated  this  result,  as 
they  came  prepared  with  their  "Apology  for  dissenting 
from  two  acts  or  new  religious  laws  passed  at  the  last 
session  of  the  synod."  ^  This  was  a  long  argumentative 
paper,  containing  not  merely  the  specific  objections  of  its 
authors  against  the  two  acts  in  question,  but  a  formal  state- 
ment of  their  principles  as  to  church  government.  They 
premise,  therefore,  1,  That  there  is  a  parity  or  equality  of 
power  among  gospel  ministers.  2.  That  a  presbytery,  or 
the  smallest  association  of  ministers,  has  power  from  Christ 
to  ordain.  3.  That  consequently  they  have  authority  to 
judge  of  the  qualifications  of  candidates  for  ordination. 
In  the  further  exposition  of  their  sentiments,  they  state, 
1.  That  presbyteries  are  bound  to  inquire  into  the  fitness 
of  candidates  for  the  sacred  office,  and  admit  or  refuse  them 
according  to  their  best  judgment.  2.  That  they  have 
power  to  deny  church  communion  to  such,  as  by  plain 
scriptural  directions  are  unqualified  for  it.  3.  In  cases  of 
conscience,  or  in  cases  regularly  brought  before  them  from 
particular  congregations,  they  ought  to  give  their  deliberate 
judgment,  with  their  best  counsel  and  advice.  4.  They 
have  liberty  to  agree  among  themselves  upon  such  things 
as  appear  to  have  a  good  tendency  to  advance  religion,  and 
to  engage  themselves  voluntarily  to  the  observance  of  these 
things,  provided  they  do  not  encroach  upon  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  nor  pretend  to  bind  their  dissenting  members  to 
observe  their  agreements,  who  may  have  a  different  view 
and  apprehension  of  them.     5.  That  it  is  reasonable  and 

'  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 

2  This  apology  was  presented  to  the  synod,  May  23,  1739,  signed  by  Gil- 
bert  Tennent,  Eleazer  Wales,  William  Tennent,  Jun'r ,  and  Samuel  Blair. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  127 

useful  that  synods  consisting  of  several  presbyteries  meet 
together,  when  matters  may  be  brought  by  appeal  or  refe- 
rence from  particular  presbyteries,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
judgment  and  sentiments  of  a  greater  number  upon  them. 
And  accordingly,  it  is  no  doubt  their  duty  to  take  such 
cases  under  their  consideration,  and  to  give  their  best  advice 
on  them;  but  we  think  that  they  should  not  proceed  with 
any  further  authority,  except  in  such  cases  wherein  God 
has  given  particular  obvious  directions  in  his  word,  which 
are  to  be  exactly  followed;  and  even  then  they  do  no  more 
than  show  from  Scripture,  what  are  the  mind  and  direc- 
tion of  God  in  such  cases,  and  declare  their  own  resolution 
to  act  according  thereto,  as  far  as  they  are  concerned.^ 

The  rule  relating  to  itinerants  as  it  then  stood,  forbade 
any  minister  belonging  to  one  presbytery  to  preach  to  a 
congregation  belonging  to  another,  if  warned  by  a  member 
of  the  latter  presbytery  that  his  preaching  would  be  likely 
to  cause  division.  This  prohibition  was  to  operate  only 
until  the  presbytery  to  which  the  congregation  belonged, 
could  consider  the  case  and  give  the  itinerant  liberty  to 
preach  or  not,  as  they  saw  fit.  To  this  rule  the  authors  of 
this  apology  objected,  that  it  had  no  foundation  in  Scrip- 
ture; that  it  was  at  variance  with  the  command  which 
required  ministers  to  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season; 
that  it  deprived  ministers  and  people  of  privileges  which 
Christ  had  given  them;  that  the  exercise  of  the  ministerial 
office  might  be  suspended  for  a  time  by  one  man,  and  that 
not  for  any  fault;  that  any  minister  by  the  aforesaid  act  is 
invested  with  a  power  to  lord  it  over  his  brethren,  and  to 
inflict  upon  him  the  most  grievous  church  censures,  and 
that  upon  mere  conjecture;  and  finally  that  it  was  incon- 
sistent with  the  right  which  belonged  to  ruling  elders  to 

I  Apology,  pp.  28,  29. 


128  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

invite  a  regular  member  of  another  presbytery  to  preach 
among  them  one  Sabbath  on  his  travels.  This  remon- 
strance led  to  a  modification  of  the  rule,  which  was  so 
altered  as  to  direct  that  complaint  should  be  made  to  the 
presbytery,  in  case  any  one  thought  the  preaching  of  the 
stranger  productive  of  evil,  and  that  it  should  be  left  to  the 
presbytery  to  decide  whether  he  should  continue  to  preach. 
In  this  form  it  passed  unanimously.  These  brethren,  how- 
ever, were  no  better  satisfied  than  before,  and  the  next 
year  the  rule  was  repealed.  ^ 

To  the  rule  relating  to  the  examination  of  candidates, 
they  objected,  1.  That  it  was  unscriptural;  there  being  no 
direction  in  the  Scriptures,  that  a  candidate  should  be  exa- 
mined by  a  committee  of  synod,  before  being  examined  by 
a  presbytery.  2.  That  it  was  uncharitable,  inasmuch  as  it 
supposed  insufficiency  or  unfaithfulness  in  the  presbyteries. 

3.  That  it  was  anti-scriptural,  as  it  hindered  or  impaired  the 
exercise  of  the  power  of  presbyteries  in  the  examination  of 
students,  a  duty  enjoined  upon  them  in  the  Scriptures. 

4.  That  it  was  unjust,  as  it  impaired  a  power  given  by 
Christ,  against  the  will  and  conscience  of  its  possessors. 

5.  That  it  was  unnecessary;  presbyteries  having  tried 
young  men  ever  since  the  synod  was  formed.  6.  That  it 
was  anti-presbyterial,  and  by  taking  from  presbyteries  their 
proper  business,  tended  to  make  them  useless. 

Not  satisfied  with  these  specific  objections,  they  attacked 
the  general  principle  on  which,  as  they  supposed,  these 
rules  were  founded.  They  say,  "We  humbly  conceive 
that  the  aforesaid  acts,  in  their  present  form,  are  founded 
upon  a  false  hypothesis,  namely,  that  a  majority  of  synods 
or  other  church  judicatories,  have  a  power  committed  to 
them  from  Christ  to  make  new  rules,  acts,  or  canons  about 

1  Chapter  III.  p.  247. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  129 

religious  matters,  on  this  ground,  viz:  That  they  judge 
them  to  be  either  not  against  or  agreeable  to  the  general 
directions  of  the  word,  and  serviceable  to  religion,  which 
shall  be  binding  on  those  who  conscientiously  dissent  there- 
from, on  certain  penalties,  which  are  to  be  inflicted  upon 
those  who  judge  the  acts  they  enforce,  to  be  contrary  to  the 
mind  of  Christ,  and  prejudicial  to  the  interest  of  his  king- 
dom. This  is,  in  brief,  a  legislative,  or  law-making  power 
in  religious  matters,  and  this  we  do  utterly  disclaim  and 
renounce." 

Against  any  such  power  as  that  here  described,  they 
argued,  1.  That  Christ  has  not  given  such  authority  to 
church  judicatories,  or  required  his  people  to  submit  to  it. 
2.  It  is  an  invasion  of  Christ's  kingly  office.  3.  It  involves 
a  reflexion  on  the  perfection  of  the  Scriptures,  as  though 
they  did  not  contain  a  sufficient  rule  of  duty.  4.  It  is 
inconsistent  with  Christian  liberty.  5.  It  is  incompatible 
with  the  rights  of  conscience  and  of  private  judgment. 
6.  This  power  supposes  either  that  the  church  is  infallible, 
or  that  she  can  make  what  is  wrong  in  itself,  right  by  com- 
manding it.  7.  If  such  a  power  belongs  to  the  church, 
then  the  reformation  and  dissent  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, must  be  condemned.  8.  Such  religious  laws  are 
superstitious  and  uncharitable.  9.  The  power  complained 
of  would  open  a  door  for  an  intolerable  bondage,  and 
expose  men  to  be  persecuted  for  conscience  sake.  ^ 

It  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  that  as  to  this  latter  point, 
viz :  the  power  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience,  there 

1  Each  of  these  arguments  is  expanded  to  a  considerable  length  in  the 
Apology,  which  is  printed  in  full  as  an  Appendix  to  Remarks  on  the  Pro- 
testation, presented  to  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  June  1,  1741,  by  Gilbert 
Tennent.  Mr.  Thompson  in  his  work  on  the  Government  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  has  extracted  the  greater  part  of  the  apology. 


130  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

was  no  dispute  between  the  two  parties.  Such  a  power 
was  never  claimed  by  any  presbyterian.  Still  this  apology 
greatly  widened  the  opening  breach.  It  made  the  difficulty, 
to  all  appearance,  one  of  principle  instead  of  detail.  It 
was  no  longer  a  question,  whether  a  particular  rule  was 
just,  but  whether  a  church  judicatory  had,  on  any  occasion, 
the  right  to  bind  its  dissenting  members.  This  paper  seemed 
to  allow,  even  in  cases  of  appeal,  nothing  beyond  advisory 
power  either  to  synods  or  presbyteries.  It  was  therefore 
regarded  as  a  formal  renunciation  on  the  part  of  its  authors, 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  presbyterianism.  It  is 
true,  they  did  not  so  intend  it,  yet  it  was  so  understood, 
and  that  according  to  its  most  obvious  meaning.  The 
unfortunate  character  of  this  apology  was  no  doubt  due  to 
Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent,  whose  impress  it  very  distinctly  bears. 
As  a  controversialist  he  had  two  prominent  characteristics. 
The  one  was  the  habit,  on  all  occasions,  of  recurring  to 
first  principles.  He  was  not  contented  to  object  to  the 
thing  in  debate,  but  was  sure  to  attack  the  hypothesis,  as 
he  termed  it,  on  which  it  was  founded.  This  habit  often 
got  him  into  difficulty;  for  his  mind,  though  vigorous  and 
on  many  subjects  well  furnished,  was  neither  discriminating 
nor  logical.  Hence,  in  the  statement  of  his  principles  he 
rarely  attended  to  those  qualifications,  which  he  himself 
soon  found  to  be  necessary.  His  controversial  writings, 
therefore,  are  full  of  inconsistencies  and  contradictions,  so 
that  his  authority  may  be  fairly  quoted  on  either  side  of 
almost  every  question  in  the  discussion  of  which  he  was 
engaged.  Another  of  his  characteristics  was  a  fondness  for 
exaggeration.  Every  thing  was  stated  in  extremes.  This 
was  remarked  by  his  opponents,  who  complained  that  he 
could  not  say  a  thing  was  uncharitable,  but  he  must  needs 
call  it  "  a  bloody,  murderous  charity."     Thus  in  the  present 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  131 

case,  he  could  not  deny  that  church  judicatories  could 
bind  him  to  what  he  considered  unscriptural  and  sinful, 
without  appearing  to  deny  that  they  could  bind  him  to  any 
thing. 

The  opposition  of  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  led  to  a 
modification  of  the  rule  respecting  the  examination  of  can- 
didates. Instead  of  this  examination  being  conducted  by  a 
committee,  it  was  determined  that  it  should  be  performed 
by  the  synod  itself  or  its  commission.  As  thus  modified  it 
was  adopted  by  a  great  majority.  The  dissentients  among 
the  ministers,  were  William  Tennent,  Sen'r.,  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent,  William  Tennent,  Jun'r,,  Charles  Tennent,  Samuel 
Blair,  and  Eleazer  Wales.  ^  As  Mr.  G.  Tennent  declared, 
that  he  believed  the  rule  was  designed  to  operate  against 
his  father's  school,  his  opponents  retorted  that  the  opposi- 
tion to  it  was  a  mere  family  concern.  Of  the  six  dissenting 
or  protesting  brethren,  as  they  were  commonly  called,  four 
were  Tennents,  the  fifth  a  pupil  and  friend,  and  the  sixth  a 
co-presbyter  and  neighbour.  Whatever  unworthy  motive 
may,  on  either  side,  have  mingled  with  better  feelings,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  majority,  which  included  almost  the 
whole  synod,  were  influenced  in  the  adoption  of  the  rule  in 
question,  by  a  sincere  desire  to  secure  an  adequately  edu- 
cated ministry,  and  the  minority  by  an  equally  conscien- 
tious belief,  that  the  operation  of  the  rule  would  be  inimical 
to  the  progress  of  religion  in  the  church. 

The  New  Brunswick  presbytery  having  taken  its  stand, 
continued  to  disregard  the  above  mentioned  rule.  In  the 
course  of  the  year  1739,  they  ordained  Mr.  Rowland  sine 
titulo,'^  which  was  then  a  very  uncommon  thing;  and 
licensed  Mr.  McCrea.  ^     In  1740  they  licensed  Mr.  William 

•  See  chap.  III.  p.  251. 

2  Minutes  of  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  p.  12.  3  Ibid.  p.  13. 


132  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Robinson/  and  Mr.  Samuel  Finley;^  and  in  no  one  of 
these  cases  did  they  comply  with  the  requisition  of  synod. 

In  order  to  a  proper  understanding  of  this  period  of  our 
history,  it  is  obviously  important  to  have  a  clear  idea  of 
the  merits  of  the  controversy  between  the  New  Brunswick 
presbytery  and  the  other  members  of  the  synod.  Was  that 
presbytery  justifiable  in  disregarding  the  rule  respecting 
the  examination  of  candidates?  It  will  be  seen  that  all 
their  objections  to  the  rule  in  question,  as  presented  in  their 
apology, resolve  themselves  into  one,  viz:  That  since  Christ 
has  given  to  presbyteries  the  power  of  ordination,  the  rule 
was  an  unwarrantable  interference  with  their  privileges. 
To  call  this  interference,  under  so  many  distinct  heads, 
antiscriptural,  uncharitable,  unjust,  and  anti-presbyterial, 
does  not  make  so  many  separate  arguments.  The  single 
question  is,  was  there  any  unwarrantable  interference,  on 
the  part  of  the  synod,  with  the  rights  of  the  presbyteries  ? 
Mr.  Tennent  disposes  of  this  question  in  a  very  summary 
manner.  He  thought  the  case  was  settled  by  saying,  that 
as  the  presbyteries  had  the  right  to  ordain,  this  involved  of 
necessity  the  right  to  judge  for  themselves  of  the  qualifica- 
tions of  the  candidate.  He  seems,  however,  to  have  over- 
looked the  obvious  consideration,  that  the  powers  of  a 
presbytery  acting  by  itself,  are  necessarily  and  justly  limi- 
ted, when  it  comes  to  form  one  body  with  other  presby- 
teries. The  question  was  not,  what  a  presbytery  consi- 
dered in  itself  might  do,  but  what  a  presbytery  making  a 
constituent  part  of  a  whole  church  might  properly  do? 
Among  Episcopalians  the  right  of  ordination  is  held  to 
belong  to  bishops,  and  that  by  divine  right.  Yet  no  bishop 
can  spurn  the  canons  of  his  church,  which  prescribe  the 
qualifications  of  priests  or  deacons,  as  antiscriptural,  uncha- 

J  Minutes  of  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  p.  16.  ^  ibid.  p.  20. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  133 

ritable,  and  unjust,  because  they  interfere  with  the  free 
exercise  of  his  power  to  ordain.  If  he  chooses  to  act  with 
other  bishops,  and  form  a  part  of  an  extended  church,  he 
must  exercise  his  power  in  submission  to  general  agree- 
ments, and  all  complaints  of  limiting  his  authority  are 
unreasonable.  If  he  wishes  to  be  untrammelled,  he  must 
act  by  himself.  The  case  is  much  stronger  with  regard  to 
presbyteries;  because  when  a  man  is  ordained  in  our 
church,  he  becomes  not  merely  a  member  of  presbytery, 
but  of  the  synod  also.  He  is  authorized  to  exercise  juris- 
diction over  his  brethren;  he  is  one  of  those  to  whom  they 
promise  subjection  in  the  Lord;  he  is  entitled  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  their  character,  orthodoxy,  and  conduct.  Every 
member  of  the  synod,  therefore,  has  a  right  to  know  that 
he  is  properly  qualified  for  such  an  office.  If  to  secure  this 
object,  the  synod  agreed  that  all  who  are  admitted  to  this 
sacred  trust  should  have  certain  qualifications;  all  the 
members  are  bound  to  submit  or  to  leave  the  body.  It 
would  be  a  strange  usurpation  to  allow  a  small  minority  to 
force  into  membership  and  authority,  men  whom  two-thirds 
or  four-fifths  of  the  body  were  unwilling  to  receive.  Yet 
this  was  precisely  what  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  associates 
insisted  upon.  They  claimed  the  right  of  making  men 
members  of  the  synod,  and  thus  judges  of  their  brethren,  to 
whom  they  were  unwilling  to  be  subject.  The  synod  had 
agreed  that  none  but  graduates  of  colleges,  or  those  who  ' 
had  an  equivalent  education,  should  be  allowed  to  sit  as 
members.  They  believed  such  an  education  requisite  in 
order  to  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  ministry 
and  of  synodical  membership.  Those  who  thought  diffe- 
rently, had  a  right  to  oppose  the  adoption  of  the  rule;  and 
if  they  were  unable  with  a  good  conscience  to  submit  to  it, 
they  had  a  right  to  withdraw  and  to  act  on  their  own  plan; 

13 


134  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

but  they  assuredly  had  no  right  to  insist  that  their  brethren 
should  admit  to  membership,  and  submit  to  their  authority, 
men  whom  they  did  not  think  qualified,  or  who  refused  to 
give  the  stipulated  evidence  of  their  competency.  This 
would  be  to  make  the  minority  rule  the  majority.  It  was 
in  this  light  the  matter  presented  itself  to  Mr.  Tennent's 
opponents.  They  therefore  accused  him  of  a  determina- 
tion to  domineer  over  his  brethren,  and  to  have  his  own 
way  in  matters  which  concerned  the  whole  synod,  as  much 
as  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick.  The  unreasonable- 
ness of  this  course  was  so  obvious,  that  the  Tennents  stood 
almost  alone  in  their  opposition.  This  is  not  merely  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  the  rule  respecting  candidates  was 
adopted  three  times  by  "a  great  majority;"  but  it  is  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  the  New  York  presbytery,  and  especially 
Messrs.  Dickinson,  Pierson,  and  Pemberton,  sided  with  the 
majority  on  all  these  questions.  ^ 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  at  this  period,  the  synod 
was  not  only  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  church,  but  it 
included  all  the  presbyteries.  Its  determination  or  acts, 
therefore,  were  of  the  same  nature  with  our  constitutional 
rules  when  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  presbyteries. 
They  were  the  expression  of  the  will  of  the  whole  church. 
In  the  particular  case  under  consideration,  all  the  presby- 
teries, without  an  exception,  sanctioned  the  rule  in  question, 
because  it  was  adopted  before  the  organization  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick.  And  when  that  presbytery 
objected,  there  were  four  presbyteries  for  the  rule  and  one 
against  it.     The  conduct  of  the  New  Brunswick  presby- 

1  This  is  stated  in  the  Refutation  of  Mr.  Tennent's  Remarks  on  the  Pro- 
test, p.  13.  And  in  the  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  iii.  p.  16. 
It  is  also  distinctly  referred  to  by  Mr.  Tennent  himself  in  the  Examiner 
Examined,  p.  105. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  135 

tery,  therefore,  was  precisely  analogous  to  that  of  the 
Cumberland  presbytery,  at  a  later  period  of  our  history, 
who  refused  to  comply  with  the  constitutional  provisions 
as  to  the  qualifications  of  candidates;  or  to  that  of  any  pres- 
bytery who  should  insist  on  licensing  and  ordaining  men 
destitute  of  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  Greek,  or  Hebrew,  or 
such  as  refused  to  adopt  the  Westminster  Confession.  This 
may  indeed  often  happen,  but  when  it  does  occur  it  is  an 
obvious  breach  of  faith;  it  is  a  violation  of  the  compact 
which  the  presbyteries  have  bound  themselves  to  observe. 
And  when  any  presbytery  ordains  any  man  who  has  not 
the  constitutional  qualifications  as  to  learning,  orthodoxy, 
or  experimental  religion,  a  positive  and  grievous  wrong  is 
inflicted  on  all  the  other  presbyteries. 

It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  any  number  of  presbyteries 
have  a  right  to  meet  together  and  fix  their  terms  of  com- 
munion; to  agree  upon  the  rules  to  be  observed  in  admit- 
ting men  to  the  ministry,  and  thus  investing  them  with  a 
joint  authority  over  all  the  members  of  the  body.     This  is  a 
right  exercised  by  every  church  in  the  world.     The  Episco- 
palians have  their  canons ;  the  Methodists  their  book  of  disci- 
pline; and  even  the  Congregationalists  their  Cambridge  and 
Saybrook  Platforms.     It  was  therefore  no  unusual  or  unrea- 
sonable proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  synod,  embracing  all 
the  presbyteries  in  connexion  with  the  church,  to  agree  on 
the  terms  on  which  men  should  be  admitted  to  the  ministry. 
They  had  exercised  this  power  before,  and  they  continued 
to  exercise  it  afterwards.     Neither  Mr.  Tennent  nor  any  of 
his  associates  objected  to  the  act  of  1729,  requiring  the 
presbyteries  to  make  the  adoption  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession a  preliminary  to  ordination.     Yet  the  presbyteries 
had  as  much  reason  to  complain  of  that  act,  as  encroaching 
on  their  prerogative  to  judge  of  the  orthodoxy  of  their 


136  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

candidates,  as  they  had  to  complam  of  the  act  of  1738,  as 
interfering  with  the  right  to  judge  of  their  hterary  quaUfi- 
cations.  It  is  a  decisive  proof  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  latter  rule,  which  transcended  the  acknowledged  power 
of  the  synod,  that  when  the  synod  of  New  York  was 
formed  in  1745,  it  was  made  one  of  their  fundamental  arti- 
cles of  agreement,  that  all  determinations  of  the  synod 
should  be  obeyed,  whenever  the  body  thought  fit  to  insist 
upon  them  as  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the  church; 
and  that  those  who  could  not  conscientiously  submit 
should  peaceably  withdraw.  A  similar  provision  was  una- 
nimously adopted  by  the  two  synods  at  the  time  of  their 
union  in  1758.  What  is  still  more  to  the  point,  in  the  way 
of  acknowledgment  is,  that  at  the  first  conference  between 
the  commissions  of  the  two  synods  with  a  view  to  the  union, 
held  in  1749,  this  very  contested  rule  was  proposed  for 
adoption  as  one  of  the  conditions,  and  assented  to  by  every 
commissioner  from  the  synod  of  New  York;  Mr.  Gilbert 
Tennent  alone  objecting  to  synodical  examination  of  candi- 
dates, though  he  assented  to  their  being  required  to  pro- 
duce a  college  diploma.  ^  With  this  the  synod  of  Phila- 
delphia were  perfectly  satisfied. 

There  was,  therefore,  no  more  interference  with  the 
rights  of  presbyteries  in  this  case,  than  must  ever  take 
place,  when  several  presbyteries  unite  and  agree  on  what 
terms  they  will  constitute  one  body.  There  was  no  greater 
interference  than  had  been  exercised  by  the  synod  on  pre- 
vious occasions,  or  than  takes  place  now  under  our  present 
constitution,  which  in  so  many  ways  limits  the  presbyteries 
in  the  exercise  of  their  prerogatives. 

This  rule,  however,  has  been  objected  to  on  another 
ground.     It  has  been   said  that  it   was   founded   on  the 

1  Minutes  of  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  iii.  p.  53. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  137 

unwarrantable  assumption  on  the  part  of  the  synod  of  the 
right  to  exercise  presbyterial  powers.  To  this  two  answers 
may  be  given.  In  the  first  place,  the  right  of  the  synod  to 
exercise  such  powers  was  then  universally  recognised. 
The  synod  was  regarded  as  a  larger  presbytery,  and  pos- 
sessed of  presbyterial  prerogatives.  There  was  scarcely 
one  of  the  functions  of  a  presbytery  which  it  did  not  exer- 
cise, whenever  occasion  called  for  it.  It  received,  installed, 
and  ordained  men  without  the  slightest  objection  from  any 
quarter.  This  was  done  by  the  old  synod  before  the 
schism,  by  each  of  the  two  synods  during  the  separation, 
and  by  the  united  synod  after  the  union.  However  incon- 
sistent this  may  be  with  our  present  views  and  habits,  it 
is  evident  that  the  objection  just  stated,  could  not  have 
been  consistently  urged  at  that  time  by  any  party  in  the 
church.  In  the  second  place,  this  examination  of  candi- 
dates was  not  considered  a  presbyterial  act.  It  was  not 
performed  by  the  synod  in  its  character  of  a  presbytery, 
but  as  the  substitute  of  the  officers  of  a  college.  After  this 
synodical  examination  the  candidate  was  examined  by  his 
presbytery,  just  as  he  was  after  his  reception  of  a  college 
diploma.  He  might  be  as  freely  rejected,  if,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  presbytery  incompetent,  his  synodical  certifi- 
cate notwithstanding,  as  he  could  be  notwithstanding  his 
diploma.  The  synod  did  not  propose  to  take  the  examina- 
tion of  candidates  out  of  the  hands  of  the  presbyteries,  but 
simply  to  provide  something  which  should  have  the  same 
general  significance  and  value  for  the  whole  church,  that 
the  evidence  of  graduation  in  a  regular  college  possessed. 
Hence  the  defenders  of  the  rule  said,  "The  debate  is 
neither  in  whole  nor  in  part,  who  are  intrusted  with  the 
power  of  ordination;  but  whether  the  right  of  choosing 
professors  for  colleges,  or  tutors  for  academies,  belongs  to 

12* 


138  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  higher  or  lower  church  judicatures;  and  in  case  there 
be  no  professors,  to  take  the  regular  examination  of  scho- 
lars privately  educated,  whether  the  right  of  choosing 
examiners  to  supply  the  room,  or  want  of  professors  in 
examining  scholars  in  the  useful  parts  of  academical  learn- 
ing, should  be  entrusted  to  synods  or  presbyteries."  ^ 

We  cannot  but  think,  therefore,  that  the  New  Brunswick 
presbytery,  at  least  at  this  stage  of  the  controversy,  were 
in  the  wrong.  The  synod  laid  claim  to  no  power  either 
unreasonable  in  itself,  or  inconsistent  with  the  miiform 
practice  and  acknowledged  constitution  of  the  church,  as  it 
then  existed.  The  claim  to  inordinate  power  was  all  on 
the  other  side.  It  was  a  claim  of  a  right  to  act  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  will  of  a  society  regularly  expressed,  and 
yet  to  continue  a  member  of  it.  It  was  in  short  a  claim  of 
the  minority  to  govern  the  majority. 

The  controversy  on  this  subject  was  not  confined  to  the 
floor  of  the  synod ;  it  soon  produced  difficulties  in  the  con- 
gregations and  presbyteries.  In  March  1738,  a  portion  of 
the  people  of  Maidenhead  and  Hopewell,  dissatisfied  with 
the  preaching  of  Mr.  Guild,  who  was  not  at  that  time 
settled  as  their  pastor,  applied  to  the  presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia for  liberty  to  hear  some  other  candidate.  This 
permission  was  readily  granted.  ^  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  they  applied  to  the  newly  erected  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick,  "informing  them  they  had  liberty  granted  them 
by  their  presbytery  to  invite  and  receive  any  regular  can- 
didate from  any  other  parts  to  preach  among  them,  which 
also  appeared  by  a  writing  from  Mr.  Andrews,  which  they 
adduced,  and  supplicating  that  Mr.  Rowland  might  come 
among  them;"  and  the  presbytery  "granted  him  liberty  of 

'  Refutation  of  Mr.  Tennent's  Remarks,  p.  59. 
2  Minutes  of  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  p.  52. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  139 

SO  doing."  ^  As  soon  as  this  fact  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Philadelphia  presbytery,  they  entered  on  their 
records  the  following  minute:  "The  presbytery  being 
informed  that  Mr.  Rowland  has  not  complied  with  the 
order  of  the  last  synod,  relating  to  the  examination  of  stu- 
dents by  a  committee  of  synod  appointed  for  that  end;  that 
he  was  hastily  passed  over  in  his  trials  by  the  presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  said  order  of 
synod;  and  that  Mr.  Rowland  had  information  from  Mr. 
Cowell  of  the  irregularity  of  his  licensing,  advising  him  not 
to  preach  at  Hopewell  at  the  said  time;  and  he  not  attend- 
ing presbytery,  although  he  knew  of  this  time  of  its  meeting; 
upon  which  considerations  the  presbytery  unanimously 
concluded  they  cannot  accept  of  Mr.  Rowland  as  an  orderly 
licensed  preacher,  nor  approve  of  his  preaching  any  more 
among  the  said  people  of  Maidenhead  or  Hopewell,  or  in 
any  other  of  the  vacancies  within  our  bounds,  until  his  way 
be  cleared  by  complying  with  the  order  of  synod  afore- 
said," '^  This  prohibition  had  no  effect  upon  the  dissatisfied 
portion  of  the  people,  nor  upon  Mr.  Rowland,  who  con- 
tinued to  preach  with  the  full  consent  of  his  own  presby- 
tery, as  though  it  had  not  been  made. 

In  order  to  free  themselves  from  restraint  on  this  subject, 
the  people  applied  to  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  to  be 
formed  into  a  distinct  congregation.  This  the  presbytery 
agreed  to  do  upon  condition,  that  in  case  they  could  not 
agree  with  the  other  portion  of  the  congregation  as  to  the 
site  of  the  new  place  of  worship,  that  matter  should  be 
referred  to  the  decision  of  the  presbytery.     To  this  the  peo- 

1  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  3. 

2  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  p.  57.  There  were  present 
at  this  meeting  of  the  presbytery,  Messrs.  Robert  Cross,  Richard  Treat, 
Hugh  Carlisle,  David  Cowell,  and  Jedediah  Andrews. 


140  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

pie  assented,  declaring  "  that  they  acknowledged  the  autho 
rity  of  the  presbytery,  and  would  submit  to  its  determina- 
tion." They  were  accordingly  constituted  a  church  by 
themselves,  whereupon  they  immediately  requested  to  be 
allowed  to  join  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick.  To  this 
the  presbytery  of  course  replied,  that  they  must  first  fulfil 
the  engagements  into  which  they  had  just  entered.  ^  Of 
this  decision  the  people  complained  to  the  synod  in  1739, 
who  "judged  that  the  people  had  behaved  with  great  inde- 
cency towards  their  presbytery,  by  their  unmannerly  reflec- 
tions, and  unjust  aspersions  both  upon  the  synod  and  pres- 
bytery, and  that  they  had  acted  very  disorderly  in  approv- 
ing Mr.  Rowland  as  a  preacher  among  them,  when  they 
were  advised  by  the  presbytery  that  he  was  not  to  be 
esteemed  and  approved  as  an  orderly  candidate  of  the 
ministry.  And  the  synod,"  it  is  added,  "do  wholly  disal- 
low the  said  complainants  being  erected  into  a  new  congre- 
gation until  they  do  first  submit  to  the  determination  of  the 
place  for  erecting  a  new  meeting-house  to  their  presbytery, 
as  was  formerly  agreed  upon  as  a  condition  of  their  being 
a  separate  congregation.  This  overture  was  approved  by  a 
great  majority.  And  it  is  further  ordered  by  the  synod, 
that  when  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  meet  at  Maiden- 
head and  Hopewell,  to  fix  the  place  of  a  new  meeting- 
house, they  shall  call  the  following  correspondents,  Messrs. 
John  Pierson,  John  Nutman,  Samuel  Blair,  Nathaniel  Hub- 
bell,  and  Eleazer  Wales."  ^  There  is  evidence  in  this  deci- 
sion of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  synod  to  have  full  justice 
done  the  complainants;  as  all  these  correspondents  were 
members  of  the  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  New 
York.     A  further  proof  that  there  was  no  disposition  to 

'  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  p.  65,  and  66. 
2  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  68. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  141 

thwart  the  reasonable  wishes  of  the  people  as  to  their  eccle- 
siastical connexions,  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  the  request  of  the  two  congregations  of  Newtown 
and  Tinicum,to  be  set  off  from  the  presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia to  that  of  New  Brunswick,  was  "readily  granted."  ^ 
The  decision  of  the  synod  respecting  the  congregation  of 
Hopewell  produced  no  effect.  The  people,  Mr.  Rowland, 
and  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  all  disregarded  it. 
Here  again  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  Brunswick 
brethren  were  in  the  wrong.  The  congregation  of  Hope- 
well was  not  within  their  bounds;  the  presbytery  to  which 
the  people  belonged,  and  whose  authority  they  formally 
acknowledged,  disapproved  of  their  employing  Mr.  Row- 
land; the  highest  judicatory  to  which  they  appealed  con- 
firmed this  decision;  and  yet  the  Brunswick  presbytery 
went  on  as  though  no  such  decision  had  been  made,  and  as 
though  the  congregation  was  regularly  under  their  care. 
It  was  not  that  these  brethren  denied  the  authority  of  the 
presbytery  or  synod,  for  they  uniformly  acknowledged  and 
exercised  this  authority;  but  it  was  that,  in  extraordinary 
cases,  ecclesiastical  order  may  be  safely  disregarded ;  or  in 
other  words,  as  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  was  indif- 
ferent to  the  spiritual  interests  of  their  people,  the  presby- 
tery of  New  Brunswick  was  authorized  to  take  the  charge 
off  their  hands.  ^  In  thus  assuming  the  incompetency  or 
unfaithfulness  of  their  brethren,  and  acting  as  though  they 
had  forfeited  their  usual  rights  as  ministers  or  judicatories, 
they  unavoidably  occasioned  alienation  and  contention. 

1  Minutes  of  the  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  72. 

2  Mr.  Tennent  says,  that  Mr.  Rowland  went  to  the  people  of  Hopewell, 
"  not  out  of  contempt  (for  the  presbytery  or  synod,)  but  conscience  towards 
God,  in  order  to  relieve  a  pious,  opposed,  and  oppressed  people." — Examiner 
Examined,  p.  127. 


142  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

The  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  had  another  difficulty 
about  Mr.  Rowland.  When  met  at  Neshaminy,  Septem- 
ber, 1739,  a  complaint  was  brought  before  them  by  some 
members  of  that  congregation  against  their  pastor,  the  Rev. 
William  Tennent,  senior,  for  having  invited  Mr.  Rowland 
to  preach  for  him.  "  Upon  which  Mr.  Tennent  was  desired 
to  say  what  he  thought  proper  with  relation  to  his  conduct 
therein,  which  he  accordingly  did,  and  acknowledged  that 
he  did  invite  Mr.  Rowland  as  before  mentioned,  and  withal 
justified  the  action,  and  disclaiming  the  authority  of  the 
presbytery  to  take  cognisance  of  that  matter,  he  contemp- 
tuously-withdrew.  After  which  the  presbytery  had  much 
discourse  with  the  people  who  had  joined  with  Mr.  Ten- 
nent in  the  aforementioned  action,  admonishing  them  of 
the  irregularity  of  the  said  conduct,  and  exhorting  them  not 
to  encourage  or  consent  to  any  like  conduct  for  the  future. 
They  came  then  to  consider  what  to  do  with  regard  to  Mr. 
Tennent  in  this  affair,  and  concluded  they  could  not  do  less 
than  condemn  said  conduct  of  Mr.  Tennent,  in  inviting  Mr. 
Rowland  to  preach  as  aforesaid,  as  irregular  and  disorder- 
ly, and  especially  when  aggravated  by  justifying  the  said 
action,  and  indecently  withdrawing  from  the  presbytery."  ^ 

The  opposition  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery  to  the 
two  acts  of  synod,  relating,  the  one  to  itinerant  preaching, 
and  the  other  to  the  examination  of  candidates,  had  pro- 
duced so  much  uneasiness  in  the  church,  that  when  the 
synod  met  in  1740,  a  general  anxiety  was  felt  to  have  the 
difficulty  arranged.  The  former  of  these  two  acts  was 
therefore  repealed;  and  various  efforts  were  made  to  effect 
such  a  modification  of  the  second  as  should  meet  the  views 

'  Minutes  of  Pliiladelphia  presbytery,  p.  77.  Present  at  this  meeting, 
besides  Mr.  Tennent,  Messrs.  J.  Andrews,  Robert  Cross,  and  Richard  Treat. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  143 

of  the  New  Brunswick  brethren.  Mr.  Dickinson,  as  men- 
tioned in  a  former  chapter,  ^  proposed  that  the  matter  in 
dispute  should  be  referred  to  some  ecclesiastical  body  in 
Scotland,  Ireland,  or  England,  or  to  the  ministers  of  Boston. 
To  this  Mr.  Tennent  objected,  principally  because  it  would 
be  difficult  to  draw  up  a  statement  of  the  case  in  which 
both  parties  would  agree;  because  he  and  his  friends  had 
the  smiles  of  God  on  the  course  which  they  were  pursuing; 
and  because  of  the  low  state  of  piety  among  those  to  whom 
the  reference  was  to  be  made.  After  speaking  of  the  pres- 
byterians  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  England,  as  having  lit- 
tle of  the  life  of  religion  among  them,  he  added,  "  By  the 
best  information  we  can  get,  a  dead  formality  prevails  too 
much  in  Boston,  and  many  other  places  in  New  England. 
Indeed,  we  are  of  opinion,  that  the  majority  of  church  judi- 
catories almost  every  where,  are  dead  formalists,  if  they 
have  got  even  that  length;  and,  therefore,  we  incline  to 
make  no  more  application  to  men  in  the  affair  aforesaid."  2 
It  was  proposed  by  a  member  of  the  New  Brunswick 
presbytery  "that  the  synod  might  appoint  two  of  their 
number  to  be  present  at  the  examination  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry ;  who,  if  they  found  them,  (the  presbyteries,) 
guilty  of  malconduct,  might  accuse  them  to  the  synod." 
When  it  was  asked,  whether,  in  the  case  these  delegates 
objected  to  the  competency  of  the  candidate  his  licensure 
would  be  put  ofl',  and  the  question  referred  to  the  synod, 

•  Chap.  iii.  p.  252. 

2  Refutation  of  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  pp.  11,12.  The  above  quoted 
declaration  respecting  the  ministers  of  Boston,  illustrates  Mr.  Tennent's  hasty 
manner  of  judging  of  the  religious  character  of  his  brethren.  Tliere  were 
at  that  time  in  Boston,  Mr.  Cooper,  Mr.  Webb,  Mr.  Foxcroft,  the  two  Messrs. 
Prince,  father  and  son,  and  several  other  eminently  pious  ministers,  who, 
in  the  autumn  of  this  very  year,  1740,  received  Mr.  Tennent  with  open 
arms. 


144  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  Brunswick  brethren  declmed.     So  that  overture  came 
to  nothing.  ^ 

Mr.  Gillespie  proposed  "  that  every  presbytery  should 
keep  a  full  record  of  the  trials  of  candidates  in  the  several 
parts  of  necessary  learning,  and  exhibit  the  same  to  the 
synod  for  their  satisfaction,  at  the  time  of  their  admission 
into  membership  in  the  synod.  Now  this,  at  the  first  read- 
ing was  like  to  take,  for  it  seemed  to  cut  off  all  colour  of 
plea  about  infringing  the  rights  of  presbyteries,  and  pro- 
mised to  the  synod,  at  first  view,  the  right  of  judging  the 
qualifications  of  their  own  members.  But  in  order  to  come 
to  a  right  understanding  in  the  matter,  Mr.  Dickinson  pro- 
posed, whether,  in  case  the  account  given  of  the  trials  of 
candidates,  should  give  just  ground  to  the  synod  to  judge 
that  said  candidates  were  really  deficient  in  some  material 
parts  of  useful  learning;  or  in  case  the  candidates  should 
somehow  be  found  out  to  be  deficient,  or,  upon  rational 
grounds  suspected  to  be  so,  would  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  par- 
ty submit  such  candidates  to  the  trial  or  censure  of  synod, 
to  receive  or  reject  them,  as  they,  upon  a  fair  trial,  should 
form  a  judgment  of  their  fitness  or  unfitness  ?  To  this  Mr. 
Tennent  replied,  that  he  should  be  willing  that  the  presby- 
tery should  be  subject  to  the  synod's  censures,  in  case  of 
maladministration  in  the  matter,  but  would  not  consent 
that  the  young  men  should  be  produced,  or  be  subject  to 
the  synod's  censures,  when,  or  if  found  to  be  defective. 
On  which  the  synod  dropped  the  overture,  as  insufficient 
to  secure  the  end  aimed  at  in  our  act,  for  it  now  appeared 
that  nothing  would  content  Mr.  Tennent,  unless  the  synod 
would  give  up  the  right  of  judging  of  the  qualifications  of 
their  own  members."  ^ 

'  Refutation  of  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  pp.  21,  22. 
2  Refutation,  &,c.  pp.  15,  16. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  145 

After  all  these  unsuccessful  attempts  to  effect  a  compro- 
mise, the  question  was  put,  whether  the  controverted  rule 
should  be  repealed,  or  continued  until  some  other  expedient 
could  be  found,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  rule  should  be 
continued  in  force.  Against  this  decision  the  six  ministerial 
brethren  who  had  protested  the  year  before  against  the 
adoption  of  the  rule,  renewed  their  protest,  and  were  joined 
by  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead,  of  the  presbytery  of  Done- 
gal, and  Mr.  John  Cross,  of  that  of  New  Brunswick. 
Messrs.  Gillespie  and  Hucheson,  of  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, recorded  their  dissent  from  the  decision,  though 
they  did  not  unite  in  the  protest.  ^ 

The  unhappy  state  of  feeling  in  which  the  failure  of  all 
efforts  at  accommodation  had  left  the  synod,  was  greatly 
aggravated  by  a  new  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gilbert 
Tennent  and  Mr.  Blair.  They  produced  formal  papers  of 
complaint  against  their  brethren,  which  were  read  not  only 
before  the  synod,  but  a  promiscuous  audience.  For  this  lat- 
ter circumstance,  however,  Mr.  Blair  states  that  neither  Mr. 
Tennent  nor  himself  was  responsible,  as  he  proposed  that 
the  synod  should  be  alone  when  the  papers  were  read.  ^ 
The  synod,  however,  said  they  were  willing  that  all  should 
hear  what  those  brethren  had  to  produce.  Mr.  Tennent 
then  rose  and  read  as  follows:  ^ 

"  Moderator  and  reverend  brethren,  I  think  I  am  obliged  in 
duty  to  God  and  you,  to  present  the  following  paper  to  your 
consideration,  which  contains  my  reasons  for  suspecting  that 
a  number  of  the  members  of  this  synod  are  in  a  carnal  state. 

1  See  above,  chap.  iii.  p.  252. 

2  Vindication  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  225,  of  Blair's  Works. 

3  One  paragraph  of  Mr.  Tennent's  paper  was  quoted  above,  chap.  iii.  p.  238. 
It  is  here  given  again  for  the  sake  of  the  connexion.  The  whole  is  copied 
from  Mr.  Tliompson's  book  on  the  Government  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
p.  9,  et  seq. 

13 


146  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

"  First,  their  unsoundness  in  some  principal  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  that  relate  to  experience  and  practice,  as  par- 
ticularly in  the  following  points.  1.  That  there  is  no  differ- 
ence between  the  glory  of  God  and  our  happiness;  that  self- 
love  is  the  foundation  of  all  obedience.  These  doctrines  do, 
in  my  opinion,  entirely  overset,  if  true,  all  supernatural 
religion,  render  regeneration  a  vain  and  needless  thing; 
involve  a  crimson  blasphemy  against  the  blessed  God,  by 
putting  ourselves  on  a  level  with  him.  2.  That  there  is  a 
certainty  of  salvation  connected  to  the  labours  of  natural 
men.  This  doctrine  supposes  the  greatest  falsehood,  viz. 
that  there  is  a  free  will  in  man  naturally  to  acceptable 
good;  and  is  attended  with  the  most  dangerous  conse- 
quences, viz.  fixing  men  upon  their  own  righteousness,  and 
utterly  overthrowing  the  covenant  of  grace.  For  if  there 
is  a  certainty  annexed  to  the  endeavours  of  natural  men,  it 
must  be  by  promise;  but  a  promise  is  a  debt.  As  these 
opinions  are  contrary  to  the  express  testimony  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, our  Confession  of  Faith,  and  Christian  experience, 
they  give  me  reason  to  suspect  at  least  that  tlwse  who  hold 
them  are  rotten-hearted  hypocrites,  utter  strangers  to  the 
saving  knowledge  of  God  and  of  their  own  hearts. 

"  Secondly,  there  be  these  things  in  the  preaching  of  some 
of  our  members  which  induces  me  to  suspect  the  state  of 
their  souls,  namely,  1.  Their  preaching  seems  to  be  power- 
less and  unsavoury.  Christ  preached  with  authority,  and 
not  as  the  scribes.  If  any  object  and  say,  How  can  they 
be  known?  I  answer,  Christ's  sheep  hear  his  voice.  Liv- 
ing men  have  sense  and  savour.  2.  Too  general,  not 
searching  sinners'  hearts  so  narrowly  as  they  ought,  nor 
giving  them  their  different  portions,  according  to  the  apos- 
tle's directions  to  Timothy.  3.  Soft  and  flattering.  Some 
seem  to  be  afraid  to  cry  aloud  and  not  to  spare;  afraid  to 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  147 

use  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  to  persuade  men.  This  seems 
too  like  men-pleasing  and  fear  of  the  cross,  whatever  plau- 
sible pretences  are  offered  to  palliate  it,  by  cowardly,  covet- 
ous souls,  notwithstanding.  4.  Legal;  many  are  for  crying 
up  duties,  duties,  and  urging  natural  men  to  them  almost 
constantly,  as  if  outward  things  were  the  whole  of  religion. 
Is  not  this  like  the  foolish  builders,  to  pretend  to  build  a 
fabric  without  a  foundation?  It  is  true,  the  externals  of 
religion  are  to  be  pressed  in  their  place;  but  their  insuffi- 
ciency, without  inward  good  principles,  should  be  shown. 
He,  sure,  that  would  build  high,  must  dig  deep,  and  lay  the 
foundation  low,  but  I  doubt  there  are  not  many  among  us 
that  open  the  nature,  and  urge  the  necessity  of  our  danger- 
ous state  by  nature.  5.  Unsuccessful,  with  the  appearance 
of  contentedness  under  it.  Aaron's  rod  blossomed,  and 
brought  forth  almonds,  while  the  rest  of  the  rods  were  dry 
and  barren;  and  by  this  the  divine  call  of  the  tribe  was 
manifested,  while  bare  pretenders  were  blasted.  God  will 
not  send  ministers  for  nothing;  no,  sure,  whom  he  sends, 
and  who  stand  in  his  counsel,  shall  profit  the  people. 

"These  things  following  respecting  their  practice,  incline 
me  to  suspect  their  state.  1.  Great  stiffness  in  opinion, 
generally  in  smaller  matters  wherein  good  men  may  differ; 
continual  pertness  and  confidence,  as  if  they  were  infalli- 
ble; which  shows  that  the  pride  of  their  understanding  was 
never  broken,  and  that  they  feel  not  their  need  of  Christ  as 
a  prophet.  2.  Opposition  to  God's  servants  and  work; 
insisting  much  upon  the  real  or  supposed  imprudences  of 
God's  servants,  but  passing  over  in  silence  their  valuable 
qualifications  and  worthy  actions.  This  looks  pharisee- 
and-devil  like,  notwithstanding  all  the  colourings  of  crafty 
men.  3.  That  there  is  no  knowing  of  people's  states. 
Though  there  is  no  infallible  knowledge  of  the  estates  of 


148  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

some  attainable,  yet  there  is  a  satisfactory  knowledge  to  be 
attained.  Ministers  crying  out  against  this,  is  an  evidence 
of  their  unfaithfulness  in  neglecting  to  use  the  properest 
means  to  convince  sinners  of  their  damnable  state.  It 
shows  also  their  ignorance  of  divine  things;  or  manifests 
their  consciousness  of  their  own  hypocrisy  and  fear  of  dis- 
covery. 4.  Letting  men  out  into  the  ministry  without  so 
much  as  examining  them  about  their  Christian  experience, 
notwithstanding  a  late  canon  of  this  synod  enjoining  the 
same.  How  contrary  is  this  practice  to  the  Scriptures,  and 
to  our  Directory,  and  of  how  dangerous  a  tendency  to  the 
church  of  God!  Is  it  probable  that  truly  gracious  persons 
would  thus  slight  the  precious  souls  of  men?  5.  More  zeal 
for  outward  order  than  for  the  main  points  of  practical 
religion.  Witness  the  committee's  slighting  and  shuffling 
the  late  debate  about  the  glory  of  God, '  and  their  present 
contention  about  the  committee-act.  Tliis  is  too  much  like 
the  zeal  of  the  old  pharisees  in  tithing  mint,  anise,  and 
cummin,  while  they  neglected  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law. 

"  These  things,  my  brethren,  I  mention  in  the  fear  and 
love  of  God,  without  personal  prejudice  against  any.  That 
God  who  knows  my  heart  is  witness,  that  I  heartily  desire 
the  conviction  of  those  ministers  whom  I  suspect,  and  that 
they  may  be  as  burning  and  shining  lights  in  the  church  of 
God.  But  I  am  obliged  in  faithfulness  to  God  and  the 
souls  of  men,  to  make  mention  of  these  things,  which  are 
distressing  to  my  heart,  as  some  of  the  reasons  why  I  pro- 
test against  all  restraints  in  preaching  the  everlasting  gospel 

1  This  refers  to  the  report  brought  in  by  Messrs.  Dickinson,  Pierson, 
Peraberton,  Thompson,  Anderson,  Boyd,  and  Treat,  on  the  dispute  between 
Mr.  Tennent  and  Mr.  Cowell.  See  above,  chapter  iii.  p.  235.  Very  few 
synods  in  our  day  could  furnish  a  committee  of  seven  better  men. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  149 

in  this  degenerate  state  of  the  church.  Rules  which  are 
serviceable  in  ordinary  cases,  when  the  church  is  stocked 
with  a  faithful  ministry,  are  notoriously  prejudicial  when 
the  church  is  oppressed  with  a  carnal  ministry.  Besides 
the  remarkable  success  that  God  has  given  of  late  to  Mr. 
Whitefield's  travelling  labours,  and  several  others  in  this 
country,  makes  me  abhor  the  slavish  schemes  of  bigots,  as 
to  confinement  in  preaching  the  blessed  gospel  of  Christ. 
I  am,  reverend  gentlemen,  your  well  wisher  and  humble 
servant,  Gilbert  Tennent." 

The  paper  read  by  Mr.  Blair  contained  the  same  general 
complaints.  Though  milder  in  its  language,  it  probably 
gave  quite  as  much  offence,  as  he  was  at  that  time  com- 
paratively a  young  man,  and  addressed  himself  to  men, 
some  of  whom  were  in  the  ministry  before  he  was  born, 
and  who  hath  hitherto  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the 
church,  and  led  lives  of  great  labour  and  self-denial  in  her 
service. 

This  whole  proceeding,  though  doubtless  well  intended, 
was  in  every  point  of  view  exceptionable.  The  charges 
were  in  general  so  vague,  that  they  could  neither  be  proved 
nor  disproved;  they  rested  on  hearsay  evidence,  for  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Tennent  or  Mr.  Blair  had 
many  opportunities  of  hearing  how  all  their  brethren 
preached;  and  worst  of  all  they  were  addressed  indiscrimi- 
nately against  the  body  in  general;  thus  the  innocent  and 
guilty  were  made  to  sutler  alike.  The  synod  and  the  large 
audience  which  crowded  the  house,  ^  were  made  to  know 
that  Mr.  Tennent  thought  that  many,  or  most  of  his  bre- 

1  Mr.  Thompson  speaks  several  times  of  the  congregation  present  when 
the  above-mentioned  papers  were  read,  as  very  large ;  and  it  is  elsewhere 
stated,  that  the  house  was  filled  with  "  a  tumultuous  crowd."— Refutation, 
&c.  p.  32. 

13* 


150  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Ihren  were  in  "a  carnal  state;"  but  who  were  intended  no 
one  could  tell.  Some  of  his  charges  referred  specifically  to 
many  of  the  best  men  in  the  synod;  others  might  be  apphed 
to  any  or  every  one,  just  as  the  hearers  pleased.  The 
other  members  of  the  synod  of  course  expostulated  with 
these  brethren  on  the  impropriety  of  this  course,  and  '"'  ear- 
nestly pressed  and  entreated  them  to  spare  no  man  in  the 
synod  whom  they  could  prove  to  be  unsound  in  doctrine 
or  immoral  in  practice,  but  prayed  them  only  to  take 
Christ's  methods  with  all  such,  and  not  to  condemn  the 
innocent  with  the  guilty."  *  To  this  Mr.  Tennent  replies, 
"we  did  then  offer  to  prove  the  matters  of  charge  against 
particular  members,  if  the  synod  required  it,  but  this  was 
waved."  ^  This  is  not  a  very  fair  statement.  The  synod 
very  properly  waved  taking  up  Mr.  Tennent's  vague 
charges,  and  themselves  instituting  process  on  the  ground 
of  them.  They  urged  him,  however,  to  proceed  properly, 
"  by  tabling  charges  in  a  regular  way,  against  particular 
persons,  and  not  to  blacken  all."  ^  Mr.  Tennent  and  Mr. 
Blair  "  frankly  owned,"  that  they  had  not  "  spoken  with 
the  persons  intended  in  the  said  libels,"  and  that  they  had 
not  "made  any  regular  inquiries  into  the  truth  of  said 
reports,"  The  synod  then  declined  proceeding  with  the 
matter  until  the  persons  aimed  at  had  been  apprised  of  the 
charges,  and  until  they  "  had  been  regularly  tried  in  their 
respective  presbyteries."'*  And  this  trial  these  brethren 
were  urged  to  institute  at  once.  This  course  was  urged 
upon  them  on  another  occasion  not  long  afterwards.  For 
it  is  stated,  that  "  Messrs.  Gilbert  Tennent,  Samuel  Blair, 
and  Charles  Tennent  were  most  earnestly  pressed  by  the 
presbytery  of  Newcastle  to  spare  none  of  their  number, 

I  Preface  to  the  Protest.  ^  Remarks  on  the  Protest. 

3  Refutation,  &c.  p.  33.  ■»  Ibid.  p.  33. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  151 

but  to  table  their  complaints  against  them,  if  they  could 
convict  any  of  them  of  any  thing  unbecoming  a  minister  of 
the  gospel.  Nay,  Mr.  Gillespie  entreated  them  in  open 
presbytery,  for  the  Lord's  sake  to  do  so;  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose." ^  INIr.  Tennent's  answer  to  this  was,  "  That  the  said 
proposal  was  matter  of  suprise  to  him:  that  he  had  no 
thought  about  any  such  thing  before  it  was  mentioned  in 
the  face  of  the  judicatory;  that  his  meeting  with  the  pres- 
bytery was  merely  accidental;  and  that  his  entering  on  a 
judicial  process  was  inconsistent  with  his  design  and  ap- 
pointments of  itinerary  preaching."^  He  certainly  then 
ought  not  to  have  made  the  charges,  unless  he  could  stop 
to  prove  them.  Besides,  the  presbytery  told  him  they 
would  wait  his  leisure;  or  he  might  "leave  them  an 
account  of  the  matter  in  writing,  if  he  could  not  attend 
their  meeting;  and  that  they  would  take  it  any  way."^ 

The  conduct  of  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  friends  in  thus  con- 
demning his  brethren  unheard,  seems  to  have  produced  a 
deep  and  general  feeling  of  disapprobation.  Before  the 
New  York  brethren  would  consent  to  join  with  these  New 
Brunswick  brethren,  in  the  formation  of  a  new  synod,  it 
was  expressly  stipulated,  that  "if  any  member  of  their 
body  supposes  that  he  hath  any  thing  to  object  against  any 
of  his  brethren,  with  respect  to  error  in  doctrine,  immo- 
rality in  life,  or  negligence  in  his  ministry,  he  shall  on  no 
account  propagate  the  scandal,  until  the  person  objected 
against  is  dealt  with  according  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel, 
and  the  known  methods  of  their  discipline."  ^  And  it  has 
already  been  mentioned  that  Mr.  Tennent  himself,  as  soon 
as  the  excitement  of  the  revival  had  subsided,  condemned 
with  unsparing  severity  the  "  God-provoking  sin"  of  rashly 

'  Preface  to  the  Protest.  ~  Remarks  on  Protest. 

3  Refutation,  &c.  p.  34.  ■»  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  p.  3. 


152  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

judging  men  to  be  graceless  who  were  sound  in  essential 
doctrines,  and  regular  in  their  lives.  ^  At  this  time,  how- 
ever, as  he  says  himself,  he  abhorred  all  confinement  in 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  would  keep  no  terms  with  any 
man  who  did  not  come  up  to  the  standard  of  his  own 
ardent  zeal. 

It  was  in  this  year  he  preached  his  famous  Nottingham 
sermon  on  the  danger  of  an  unconverted  ministry.  As 
this  sermon  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  principal  causes 
of  the  schism,  it  demands  particular  attention.  His  text 
was  Mark  vi.  34.  "  Jesus,  when  he  came  out,  saw  much 
people  and  was  moved  with  compassion  towards  them, 
because  they  were  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd;"  from 
which  he  deduces  the  following  proposition.  "The  case  of 
such  is  much  to  be  pitied  who  have  no  other  but  pharisee- 
shepherds  or  unconverted  teachers."  Under  the  first  head 
of  his  sermon,  he  describes  the  character  of  the  ancient 
pharisees,  which  he  unfolds  under  the  heads  of  pride, 
policy,  malice,  ignorance,  covetousness,  and  bigotry  to 
human  inventions  in  religious  matters.  "Although,"  he 
says,  "  some  of  the  old  pharisee  shepherds  had  a  very  fair 
and  strict  outside,  yet  were  they  ignorant  of  the  new  birth. 
Witness  Rabbi  Nicodemus,  who  talked  like  a  fool  about  it. 
Hear  how  our  Lord  cursed  those  plastered  hypocrites. 
Matthew  xxiii.  27,  28.  Ay,  if  they  had  but  a  little  of  the 
learning  then  in  fashion,  and  a  fair  outside,  they  were 
presently  put  into  the  priest's  office,  though  they  had  no 
experience  of  the  new  birth.  0  sad!  The  old  pharisees, 
for  all  their  prayers  and  other  pious  pretences,  had  their 
eyes  with  Judas  fixed  on  the  bag.  Why,  they  came  into 
the  priest's  office  for  a  piece  of  bread ;  they  took  it  up  as  a 

1  See  the  passages  quoted  from  his  Irenicum  in  the  preceding  cliapter. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  153 

trade,  and  therefore  endeavoured  to  make  the  best  market 
of  it  they  could.     0  shame!" 

Under  his  second  head,  he  shows  why  those  who  have 
no  other  than  pharisee  teachers  are  to  be  pitied.  His 
reasons  are,  1.  Because  natural  men  have  no  call  of  God 
to  the  ministry,  under  the  gospel  dispensation.  2.  Because 
the  ministry  of  natural  men  is  uncomfortable  to  gracious 
souls.  3.  The  ministry  of  natural  men  is  for  the  most  part 
unprofitable.  "What  if  some  instances  could  be  shown  of 
unconverted  ministers  being  instrumental  of  convincing 
sinners  of  their  lost  state?  The  thing  is  very  rare  and  extra- 
ordinary. And  for  what  I  know,  as  many  instances  may 
be  given  of  Satan's  convincing  persons  by  his  temptations. 
Indeed  it  is  a  kind  of  chance-medley,  both  in  respect  of  the 
father  and  his  children,  when  any  such  event  happens. 
And  is  not  this  the  reason  why  a  work  of  conviction  and 
conversion  has  been  so  rarely  heard  of  for  a  long  time  in 
the  churches  till  of  late,  viz:  That  the  bulk  of  her  spiritual 
guides  are  stone  blind  and  stone  dead."  4.  The  ministry 
of  natural  men  is  dangerous,  both  in  respect  to  the  doc- 
trines and  practice  of  piety.  "  The  doctrines  of  original 
sin,  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  the  other  points  of  Cal- 
vinism, are  very  cross  to  the  grain  of  unrenewed  nature. 
And  though  men,  by  the  influence  of  a  good  education,  and 
hopes  of  preferment,  may  have  the  edge  of  their  natural 
enmity  against  them  blunted,  yet  it  is  far  from  being  broken 
or  removed.  It  is  only  the  saving  grace  of  God  that  can 
give  us  a  true  relish  for  those  nature-humbling  doctrines, 
and  so  effectually  secure  us  from  being  infected  by  the 
contrary." 

In  answer  to  the  objection  to  what  he  had  said  about  the 
ministry  of  natural  men,  that  Judas  was  sent  by  Christ,  he 
answers,  1.  That  the  ministry  of  Judas  was  partly  legal. 


154  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

2.  That  it  was  extraordinarily  necessary  in  order  to  fulfil 
some  ancient  prophecies  concerning  him.  "  I  fear  that  the 
abuse  of  this  instance,  has  brought  many  Judases  into  the 
ministry,  whose  chief  desire,  like  their  great  grandfather,  is 
to  finger  the  pence  and  carry  the  bag.  But  let  such  hire- 
ling murderous  hypocrites  take  care  that  they  dont  feel  the 
force  of  a  halter  in  this  world,  and  an  aggravated  damna- 
tion in  the  next." 

Under  the  third  head  he  shows  "how  pity  should  be 
expressed  on  this  mournful  occasion."  1.  We  should 
mourn  over  those  who  are  destitute  of  a  faithful  ministry, 
and  sympathize  with  them.  2.  We  should  pray  for  them, 
and  especially  pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  would 
send  forth  faithful  labourers  into  his  harvest.  3.  We  should 
join  our  endeavours  to  our  prayers.  "  The  most  likely 
method  to  stock  the  church  with  a  faithful  ministry,  in  the 
present  state  of  things,  the  public  academies  being  so  much 
corrupted  and  abused  generally,  is  to  encourage  private 
schools  or  seminaries  of  learning,  which  are  under  the  care 
of  skilful  and  experienced  Christians,  into  which  those  only 
should  be  admitted,  who,  upon  a  strict  examination  have, 
in  the  judgment  of  charity,  the  plain  evidences  of  experi- 
mental religion." 

His  first  inference  from  his  subject  is,  "  If  it  be  so,  that 
the  case  of  those  who  have  no  other  and  no  better  than 
pharisee  teachers  is  to  be  pitied,  then  what  a  scroll  and 
scene  of  mourning,  lamentation,  and  woe  is  opened,  be- 
cause of  the  swarms  of  locusts,  the  crowds  of  pharisees, 
that  have  as  covetously  as  cruelly  crept  into  the  ministry, 
in  this  adulterous  generation!  who  as  nearly  resemble 
the  character  given  of  the  old  pharisees,  in  the  doctrinal 
part  of  this  discourse,  as  one  crow's  egg  does  another. 
It  is  true  some  of  the  modern  pharisees  have  learned  to 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  |55 

prate  a  little  more  orthodoxly  about  the  new  birth,  than 
their  predecessor  Nicodemus,  who  are,  in  the  meantime, 
as  great  strangers  to  the  feeling  experience  of  it  as  he. 
They  are  blind  who  see  not  this  to  be  the  case  of  the  body 
of  the  clergy  of  this  generation." 

2.  "From  what  has  been  said,  we  may  learn  that  such 
who  are  contented  under  a  dead  ministry,  have  not  in  them 
the  temper  of  that  Saviour  they  profess.  It  is  an  awful 
sign,  that  they  are  as  blind  as  moles,  and  as  dead  as  stones, 
without  any  spiritual  taste  and  relish.  And  alas!  is  not 
this  the  case  of  multitudes  ?  If  they  can  get  one  that  has 
the  name  of  a  minister,  with  a  band,  and  a  black  coat  or 
gown,  to  carry  on  a  sabbath-day  among  them,  although 
never  so  coldly  and  unsuccessfully,  if  he  is  free  from  gross 
crimes  in  practice,  and  takes  care  to  keep  at  a  due  distance 
from  their  consciences,  and  is  never  troubled  by  his  unsuc- 
cessfulness,  0!  think,  the  poor  fools,  that  is  a  fine  man 
indeed,  our  minister  is  a  prudent  charitable  man,  he  is  not 
always  harping  upon  terror,  nor  sounding  damnation  in  our 
ears,  like  some  rash-headed  ministers." 

3.  Such  as  enjoy  a  faithful  ministry  should  glorify  God 
on  that  account,  and  walk  worthy  of  so  distinguished  a 
privilege. 

4.  "  If  the  ministry  of  natural  men  be  as  it  has  been 
described,  then  it  is  both  lawful  and  expedient  to  go  from 
them  to  hear  godly  persons;  yea,  it  is  so  far  from  being  sin- 
ful to  do  this,  that  one  who  lives  under  a  pious  minister  of 
lesser  gifts,  after  having  honestly  endeavoured  to  get  bene- 
fit by  his  ministry,  and  yet  gets  little  or  none,  but  doth  find 
real  benefit,  and  more  benefit  elsewhere,  I  say,  he  may 
lawfully  go,  and  that  frequently,  where  he  gets  most  bene- 
fit to  his  precious  soul,  after  regular  application  to  the  pas- 
tor where  he  lives,  for  his  consent,  and  proposing  the  rea- 


156  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

sons  thereof;  when  this  is  done  in  the  spirit  of  love  and 
meekness,  without  contempt  of  any,  as  also  without  rash 
anger,  or  vain  curiosity."  He  then  argues  at  length  the 
propriety  of  people  leaving  their  pastors,  first,  when  the 
pastor  is  pious,  but  of  inferior  gifts;  and  secondly,  when  he 
is  unconverted.  As  to  the  former  case,  he  says,  it  is  mat- 
ter of  instinct  to  seek  the  greater  good  in  preference  to  the 
less;  we  are  commanded  to  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts; 
there  is  diversity  of  gifts  among  ministers,  and  God  ordina- 
rily blesses  the  best  gifts  to  the  greater  edification  of  the 
people;  as  people  have  a  right  to  the  gifts  of  all  God's 
ministers,  they  may  use  them  as  they  have  opportunity; 
Christ  did  not  reprove  John's  disciples  for  coming  to  hear 
himself,  not  only  on  week  days,  but  on  the  Sabbath;  to 
bind  men  to  a  particular  minister  against  their  inclination 
is  carnal  with  a  witness,  it  is  a  cruel  oppression  of  tender 
consciences,  and  an  infringement  of  Christian  liberty;  if 
the  great  end  of  hearing  can  be  better  attained  elsewhere, 
then,  "  I  see  not  why  we  should  be  under  a  fatal  necessity 
of  hearing  our  parish  minister,  perpetually  or  generally." 

With  regard  to  the  latter  case  he  is  more  strenuous.  "  If 
it  be  lawful  to  withdraw  from  the  ministry  of  a  pious  man 
in  the  case  aforesaid,  how  much  more  from  the  ministry  of 
a  natural  man?  Surely  it  is  both  lawful  and  expedient,  for 
the  reasons  offered  in  the  doctrinal  part  of  this  discourse; 
to  which  let  me  add  a  few  words  more." 

The  additional  considerations  which  he  urges  are  the 
following.  1.  It  is  unwise  to  trust  the  care  of  our  souls  to 
those  who  have  no  care  of  their  own.  2.  God  does  not 
ordinarily  use  the  ministry  of  his  enemies  to  turn  others  to 
be  his  friends.  God  has  not  given  any  promise  that  he 
will  bless  the  labours  of  natural  men.  If  he  had  he  would 
be  as  good  as  his  word;  but  I  can  neither  see  nor  hear  of 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  157 

any  blessing  upon  these  men's  labours,  unless  it  be  a  rare 
wonderful  instance  of  chance-medley;  whereas  the  ministry 
of  faithful  men  blossoms  and  bears  fruit,  as  the  rod  of 
Aaron.  3.  We  are  commanded  to  turn  away  from  such  as 
have  the  form  of  godliness,  but  deny  the  power  thereof. 
4.  Our  Lord  advised  his  disciples  to  beware  of  the  leaven 
of  the  Pharisees,  by  which  he  meant  their  doctrine  and 
hypocrisy,  which  were  both  sour  enough.  5.  He  refers  to 
Matt.  XV.  12,  &c.  "Then  came  his  disciples  and  said  unto 
him,  Knowestthou  that  the  pharisees  were  offended?  And 
he  answered  and  said.  Every  plant  that  my  heavenly 
Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them 
alone;  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind;  and  if  the  blind 
lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch." 

He  next  considers  the  objections  to  such  a  course,  as, 
1.  We  are  commanded  to  hear  those  who  sit  in  Moses' 
seat.  This  only  means  that  we  are  bound  to  obey  the  law- 
ful commands  of  the  civil  magistrates.  2.  Such  a  practice 
would  cause  contentions  among  the  people.  It  may  occa- 
sion them,  but  not  properly  cause  them.  If  we  give  up 
every  duty  that  is  the  occasion  of  contention  and  division, 
we  must  give  up  powerful  religion  altogether.  3.  1  Cor. 
i.  12,  which  speaks  of  Paul  and  Apollos,  is  not  against  the 
course  recommended,  for  that  only  speaks  of  making  sects. 
4.  Such  a  course  would  tend  to  grieve  our  parish  minister, 
and  to  break  up  congregations.  "  If  our  parish  minister  be 
grieved  at  our  greater  good,  or  prefer  his  credit  before  it, 
then  he  has  good  cause  to  grieve  over  his  own  rottenness 
and  hypocrisy.  And  as  for  breaking  of  congregations  to 
pieces,  upon  account  of  people's  going  from  place  to  place 
to  hear  the  word,  with  a  view  to  get  greater  good,  that 
spiritual  blindness  and  deadness  which  so  generally  prevail, 
will  put  this  out  of  danger.     It  is  but  a  few  that  have  got 

14 


158  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

any  spiritual  relish.  The  most  will  venture  their  souls  with 
any  formalist,  and  be  well  satisfied  with  the  sapless  dis- 
courses of  such  dead  drones."  5.  Paul  and  Apollos  are 
said  to  be  nothing.  True,  they  were  nothing  as  efficient 
causes,  but  they  were  something  as  instruments.  6.  Final- 
ly, it  is  objected,  people  do  not  get  more  good  over  their 
parish  line,  for  they  are  out  of  God's  way.  There  are  three 
monstrous  ingredients  in  this  objection,  a  begging  the  ques- 
tion, rash  judging,  and  limiting  of  God.  It  is  a  mean 
thing  in  reasoning  to  beg  the  question  in  debate.  Let  it  be 
proved  that  they  are  out  of  God's  way.  It  is  rash  judging 
to  say  people  do  not  get  good,  when  we  cannot  know  it  to 
be  so;  and  it  is  to  limit  God  to  confine  him  to  one  mode  of 
action. 

He  concludes  by  exhorting  those  who  have  a  faithful 
ministry,  to  make  a  speedy  and  sincere  use  of  so  rare  a  pri- 
vilege. He  exhorts  gracious  souls  to  pity  those  who  have 
none  but  pharisee-teachers.  He  urges  "those  who  live 
under  the  ministry  of  dead  men,  whether  they  have  the 
form  of  religion  or  not,  to  repair  to  the  living,  where  they 
may  be  edified;  let  who  will  oppose  it."  He  exhorts 
vacant  congregations  to  be  very  careful  in  trying  those 
whom  they  think  of  calling  as  pastors.  "  I  beseech  you, 
my  brethren,  to  consider  that  there  is  no  probability  of 
your  getting  good  by  the  ministry  of  pharisees;  for  they  are 
no  shepherds,  (no  faithful  ones,)  in  Christ's  account.  They 
are  as  good  as  none ;  nay,  worse  than  none  on  some  ac- 
counts. For  take  them  first  and  last,  they  do  more  harm 
than  good.  They  strive  to  keep  better  men  out  of  the 
places  where  they  live ;  nay,  when  the  life  of  piety  comes 
near  their  quarters,  they  rise  up  in  arms  against  it,  as  a 
common  enemy  that  discovers  and  condemns  their  craft  and 
hypocrisy.     And  with  what  art,  rhetoric,  and  appearances 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  159 

of  piety,  will  they  varnish  their  opposition  of  Christ's  king- 
dom !  As  the  magicians  imitated  the  wonders  of  Moses,  so 
do  false  apostles  and  deceitful  workers,  the  apostles  of 
Christ." 

This  sermon  had  an  extensive  circulation.  Two  editions 
of  it  were  published  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  third  in  Boston. 
Two  of  the  principal  grounds  of  complaint  against  Mr. 
Tennent  and  his  friends,  were  the  censorious  condemnation 
of  their  brethren,  and  the  encouragement  they  gave  the 
people  to  separate  from  their  pastors.  Though  this  sermon 
was  by  no  means  the  only  ground  of  these  complaints,  it 
was  one  of  the  most  tangible  proofs  of  their  justice,  and 
hence  was  constantly  appealed  to  in  the  controversies  of 
that  day.  On  this  account  a  knowledge  of  its  contents  and 
character  is  necessary  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  period  now  mider  consideration. 

In  this  discourse  Mr.  Tennent  describes  the  body  of  the 
ministers  of  that  generation  as  letter-learned  pharisees, 
plastered  hypocrites,  having  the  form  of  godliness  but  desti- 
tute of  its  power.  That  this  description  was  intended  to 
apply  to  his  brethren  in  the  synod,  it  is  believed  was  never 
doubted.  Considering  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  delivered,  and  his  frequent  avowals  of  similar  senti- 
ments respecting  them  on  other  occasions,  it  could  hardly 
have  any  other  application.  In  the  sermon  itself  he  tells 
the  people  that  the  reason  why  they  had  seen  so  few  cases 
of  conviction  or  conversion  among  them,  was,  that  "  the 
bulk  of  their  spiritual  guides  were  stone  blind  and  stone 
dead."  In  answer  to  the  criticism  which  it  occasioned,  he 
says,  "When  I  composed  it,  I  expected  it  would  be  judged, 
by  that  tribe  which  it  detected,  as  guilty  of  sccmdalum 
magnatum,  as  worthy  of  stripes  and  of  bonds.  I  supposed 
it  would  be  like  rousing  a  wasp's  nest,  and  I  have  found  it 


160  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

according  to  my  expectations.  The  opposers  of  God's 
work  have  dipt  their  tongues  and  pens  in  gall,  and  by  their 
malignant  invectives  have  endeavoured  to  bury  its  author 
in  ruins;  but  perad venture  it  may  have  a  resurrection  to 
their  terror  and  shame."  ^  Some  members  of  the  synod 
had  placed  together  in  dreadful  array  the  terms  of  invective 
contained  in  this  discourse.  In  reference  to  which  he  says, 
''  I  have  heard  people  of  piety  and  good  sense  observe  upon 
this  popular  paragraph,  that  the  gentlemen  who  had  put  it 
together  in  its  present  form,  had  taken  a  pretty  deal  of 
pains  to  draw  their  own  pictures."  ^  He  denies  that  the 
Nottingham  sermon  had  been  the  cause  of  contention; 
"No,"  says  he,  "the  true  cause  is  graceless  ministers  oppo- 
sing it.  Methinks  it  would  be  more  to  their  credit,  pru- 
dently to  let  it  alone  on  their  own  account,  for  when  they 
keep  muttering,  growling,  and  scolding  at  it,  it  does  but 
give  people  ground  to  suspect,  that  they  are  of  that  unhappy 
tribe  and  party  themselves,  which  is  therein  detected  and 
censured."^ 

The  Nottingham  sermon,  though  the  principal  printed 
example  of  Mr.  Tennent's  manner  of  treating  his  brethren, 
is  by  no  means  the  only  one.  In  most  of  his  controversial 
writings  of  this  period,  he  speaks  of  them  as  the  malignant 
opposers  of  true  religion,  and  ascribes  their  conduct  to  the 
most  unworthy  motives.  In  a  work  published  in  1743,  we 
find,  for  example,  the  following  passage.  "Give  me  leave 
to  propose  this  query  to  Mr.  Thompson  and  his  associates, 
whether  it  was  because  that  such  as  were  convinced  of  sin 
had  generally  a  less  esteem  for  his  ministry,  and  of  some  of 
the  rest  of  his  party,  that  he  and  some,  at  least,  of  them 
have  so  fiercely  opposed  the  blessed  operations  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  alarming  and  convincing  a  secure  world  of  sin, 

J  Examiner  Examined,  p.  31.  2  Ibid.  p.  79.  3  Ibid.  p.  146. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  161 

righteousness,  and  judgment?  If  so,  is  it  not  selfish  and 
sordid  with  a  witness,  and  a  blow  at  the  root  of  all  piety? 
For  my  own  part  I  must  say,  that  I  humbly  conceive  that 
to  be  the  secret  of  the  story  of  their  opposition,  the  bottom 
of  the  mystery,  the  true  spring  of  their  malignant  contend- 
ing against  vital  godliness.  The  false  and  ungenerous 
methods,  as  well  as  long  continuance  of  their  opposition  to 
the  work  of  God,  under  so  much  advantage  of  light  and 
evidence  in  favour  of  it,  together  with  their  dangerous 
errors  ^  before  mentioned,  free  me  from  the  just  imputation 
or  rash  judging  in  thinking  as  I  have  expressed."  ^ 

Mr.  Tennent  was  so  completely  the  soul  of  the  party  to 
which  he  belonged,  that  without  him  it  never  would  have 
existed.  He  is  often,  therefore,  addressed  as  the  party 
itself,  and  his  writings  and  declarations  are  referred  to  as 
speaking  the  language  of  his  associates.  Though  the  most 
prominent  and  the  most  violent,  he  was  not  the  only  one 
who  indulged  in  these  vehement  denunciations  of  his  bre- 
thren. Mr  Blair,  though  a  much  milder  man,  was  scarcely 
less  severe  in  his  judgments;  and  Mr.  Creaghead,  Mr. 
Finley,  and  others  followed  in  the  same  course.  Such 
denunciations  as  we  find  in  the  Nottingham  sermon  and 
other  writings  of  that  day,  cannot  be  excused  on  the  plea 
of  zeal  or  fidelity.  Their  only  tendency  was  to  exasperate. 
Other  men  as  faithful  as  Mr.  Tennent,  were  never  guilty 
either  of  his  censoriousness  or  violence.  We  never  hear  of 
any  complaints  against  President  Dickinson,  Mr.  Pierson, 
Mr.  Pemberton,  and  other  active  friends  of  the  revival. 
For  these  gentlemen  the  highest  respect  and  the  kindest 
feelings  were,  on  all  occasions,  expressed  by  those  who 

1  This  refers  to  Mr.  Thompson's  doctrine  on  the  nature  of  conviction  of  sin, 
which  will  be  stated  in  the  sequel. 

2  Examiner  Examined,  p.  87. 

14* 


162  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

differed  from  them  in  opinion,  as  to  the  general  character 
and  probable  results  of  the  religious  excitement  which  then 
prevailed.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  Mr. 
Tennent's  unhappy  violence  was  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  that  entire  alienation  of  feeling,  which  soon 
resulted  in  an  open  rupture.  When  such  denunciations 
come  from  men  of  doubtful  character  or  feeble  intellect, 
they  are  commonly  and  safely  disregarded.  But  when 
they  are  hurled  by  such  men  as  Tennent,  men  of  acknow- 
ledged piety  and  commanding  power,  they  can  hardly  fail 
to  shatter  the  society  among  which  they  fall.  Mr.  Tennent 
became  fully  sensible  of  the  impropriety  of  this  censorious 
spirit,  and  laboured  hard  to  correct  the  evils  it  had  occa- 
sioned. It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  same  man  could 
write  the  Nottingham  Sermon  and  the  Irenicum  Ecclesias- 
ticum.  The  former  is  full  of  coarse  invective ;  the  latter  is 
distinguished  for  mildness,  liberality,  and  a  conciliatory 
spirit.  And  what  makes  the  case  the  more  remarkable,  the 
latter  excuses,  vindicates,  and  even  praises  the  very  men 
whom  the  former  denounced.  In  the  Irenicum  he  lays 
down  the  canon,  that  to  declare  those  persons  to  be  grace- 
less, who  are  "  sound  in  the  fundamental  truths  of  religion, 
and  regular  in  life,"  is  a  grievous  offence  against  God  and 
the  church.  Yet  the  brethren  whom  he  denounced,  he 
describes  in  general  as  letter-learned  orthodox,  having  a 
fair  outside,  the  form  of  godliness,  and  even  in  some  cases, 
a  great  appearance  of  religion.  They  were,  therefore,  both 
sound  and  regular.  .  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  he 
understood  his  brethren  of  the  synod  as  coming  within  the 
scope  of  his  rule;  for  it  is  in  express  reference  to  them  that 
he  lays  it  down.  His  object  was  to  convince  the  people  of 
his  own  party,  that  they  had  no  right  to  regard  those  bre- 
thren as  graceless,  and  on  that  ground  refuse  to  unite  with 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  ]  63 

them.  ^  Mr.  Tennent,  therefore,  being  judge,  the  denun- 
ciation of  his  ministerial  brethren  was  "  an  evil  pregnant 
with  pride,  malice,  and  mischief,  though  perhaps  not  per- 
ceived or  intended;  an  evil,  which  under  a  cloak  of  mis- 
guided zeal  for  God,  Christian  liberty,  and  superior  attain- 
ments in  knowledge  and  religion,  rebelliously  opposes  the 
clearest  dictates  of  reason  and  humanity,  and  the  plainest 
laws  of  revealed  religion;  an  evil,  that  under  the  pretext  of 
kindness  and  piety,  cruelly  rends  our  neighbour's  character, 
saps  the  foundation  of  the  church's  peace,  and  turns  its 
union,  order,  and  harmony,  into  the  wildest  confusion  of 
ungoverned  anarchy,  schism,  prejudice,  and  hate."^ 

The  alienation  of  feeling  which  existed  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  synod,  is  not  to  be  attributed  solely,  or  even 
principally  to  the  denunciatory  spirit  of  some  of  the  leading 
preachers  of  that  day.  It  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to 
the  intrusion  into  the  congregations  of  settled  ministers, 
the  exhortations  given  to  the  people  to  leave  their  pastors, 
when  believed  to  be  unconverted  or  contentedly  unsuc- 
cessful, and  the  erection  of  separate  meetings.  This  was  of 
all  grounds  of  complaint  against  the  New  Brunswick  bre- 
thren, the  one  most  frequently  urged.  There  is  abundant 
evidence  that  the  complaint  was  well  founded.  The  fact 
that  the  synod  twice  enacted  a  rule  against  such  intrusions, 
is  evidence  that  the  evil  was  then  felt;  and  the  opposition 
of  the  New  Brunswick  gentlemen  to  the  rule,  shows  that 
they  "  abhorred  all  confinement  in  preaching  the  gospel." 
Mr.  Blair  in  the  paper  read  before  the  synod  in  1740,  said 
to  his  brethren,  "  Unless  we  can  see  hopeful  encouraging 
appearances  of  a  work  of  God's  converting  grace  among 
such  ministers,  we  believe  we  shall  find  ourselves  obliged 
in  duty  to  our  glorious  Lord,  to  answer  the  invitations  and 

1  Irenicum,  p.  78.  2  ibid.  p.  55. 


164  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

desires  of  people  groaning  under  the  oppression  of  a  dead 
unfaithful  ministry,  by  going  to  preach  to  them  wherever 
they  are,"  ^  Mr.  Tennent  in  his  Nottingham  sermon, 
teaches  that  it  is  both  lawful  and  expedient  for  the 
people  to  forsake  the  ministry  of  unconverted  men.  This 
he  confirms  by  various  arguments,  and  defends  from  vari- 
ous objections,  and  then  exhorts  the  people  to  act  accor- 
dingly, saying,  "  Let  those  who  live  under  the  ministry  of 
dead  men,  whether  they  have  the  form  of  religion  or  not, 
repair  to  the  living."  Nearly  one  third  of  the  whole  dis- 
course, six  pages  out  of  twenty,  was  devoted  to  this  general 
subject.  The  presbytery  of  Donegal  state,  that  in  conse- 
quence of  these  divisive  schemes,  "  most  congregations  in 
the  country  are  reduced  to  such  disorder  and  confusion,  that 
the  preaching  of  the  word  is  despised  and  forsaken,  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  are  contemned  and  evil  spoken  of, 
and  their  public  ministrations,  and  private  conduct  misre- 
presented and  traduced." 2  At  the  meeting  of  the  New 
Brunswick  presbytery,  on  the  second  day  after  the  schism, 
applications  were  made  for  supplies  from  about  eighteen 
places,  almost  all  of  which  were  out  of  the  bounds  of  the 
presbytery,  and  came  for  the  most  part  from  fragments  of 
old  congregations.  There  is,  therefore,  no  doubt  that  sepa- 
rations did  extensively  take  place,  and  that  they  were  fos- 
tered by  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  friends.  Indeed  Mr.  Tennent 
himself  admits  this.  In  his  remarks  on  the  Protest,  he  says, 
"  That  there  have  been  some  divisions  consequent  on  our 
preaching  in  some  places,  we  acknowledge."  ^ 

The  answers  which  he  gives  to  the  charge  of  having 
encouraged  the  people  to  forsake  their  pastors,  are  not 
a  little  remarkable.     He  sometimes  admits  it,  sometimes 

1  Quoted  at  length  in  Thompson's  Government  of  the  Church,  p.  46.  &.c. 

2  Minutes  for  December  1740.  3  Remarks,  &c.  p.  8. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  165 

denies  it,  and  sometimes  evades  it.  During  the  revival  he 
not  only  asserted  the  doctrine  complained  of,  but  was  pre- 
pared to  justify  it.  Thus  in  1741,  in  answer  to  the  charge 
of  intrusion  and  separation,  he  says,  "  What  is  proper  in 
ordinary  cases  may  be  prejudicial  in  extraordinaries.  When 
a  church  is  stocked  with  a  sound,  faithful,  and  lively 
ministry,  no  doubt  those  rules  respecting  ministers  keeping 
within  the  bounds  of  their  respective  charges,  until  they 
are  invited  in  an  orderly  manner  to  go  elsewhere,  may  be 
of  service.  But  on  the  supposition  that  a  number  of  minis- 
ters are  either  unsound  in  doctrine,  or  unfaithful  and  con- 
tentedly unsuccessful  in  their  work,  then  is  it  not  lawful  to 
suspend  the  aforesaid  rules  for  a  season?"  ^  Again:  "No 
doubt  there  is  a  relation  between  a  pastor  and  his  people, 
but  the  design  of  this  being  to  promote  their  good,  we  think 
it  unreasonable  that  it  should  subsist  to  the  prejudice  of 
that  which  it  was  designed  to  secure.  However,  in  ordi- 
nary cases,  we  think  it  to  be  the  people's  duty  to  make 
regular  application  to  their  pastors  to  go  where  they  can 
get  the  most  benefit.  But  when  ministers  conspire  to 
oppose  the  work  and  servants  of  God,  in  the  most  flagrant 
manner,  we  see  no  harm  in  this  case,  in  their  using  an 
extraordinary  method."  ^  And  elsewhere  in  still  stronger 
language,  he  says,  when  ministers  habitually  oppose  the 
revival,  "  I  see  not  how  any  that  fear  God  can  contentedly 
sit  under  their  ministrations,  (if  they  persist  as  aforesaid,) 
without  becoming  accessary  to  their  crimson  guilt."  ^  It 
was,  therefore,  at  that  time  his  opinion  that  when  ministers 
were  unconverted,  or  contentedly  unsuccessful,  and  espe- 

1  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  p.  19.  ~  Ibid.  p.  29. 

3  Letter  to  Franklin,  as  editor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  and  published 
in  that  paper  September  2,  1742. 


166 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


daily  if  they  opposed  the  revival,  it  was  the  duty  of  their 
people  to  leave  them. 

When,  however,  he  saw  how  these  principles  were  ope- 
rating in  New  England,  ^  where  the  separatists  had  begun 
to  break  off  from  the  regular  pastors,  because  they  did  not 
come  up  to  their  standard  of  zeal  and  fidelity,  and  when 
the  Moravians  had  begun  to  make  inroads  upon  some  of 
the  presbyterian  churches,  he  in  a  measure  altered  his 
manner  of  speaking.  In  April,  1742,  he  preached  several 
sermons  in  New  York,  against  the  Moravians,  which,  toge- 
ther with  an  Appendix,  were  soon  given  to  the  world. 
In  these  sermons  he  condemns  many  of  the  opinions  and 
practices  of  which  he  had  been  hitherto  considered  the 
advocate.  Among  other  things,  he  says,  "  It  is  an  instance 
of  pride  to  despise  and  slight  ministers  or  people  that  are 
unconverted,  or  supposed  to  be  so."  "The  practice  of 
staying  at  home  rather  than  going  to  hear  such  ministers, 
sound  in  principle  and  regular  in  practice,  as  are  judged  by 
some  to  be  unconverted,  is  unscriptural  and  of  dangerous 
tendency,  in  my  opinion,  for  it  hangs  the  whole  weight  of 
the  public  worship  of  God,  on  the  uncertain  judgment  of 
men.  Though  unconverted  ministers  are  not  likely  to  do 
so  much  good  as  others,  yet  seeing  that  many  of  them 
doubtless,  preach  the  same  \vord  of  God  which  others  do, 
why  may  not  a  sovereign  God,  who  permits  them  by  his 
providence  to  come  into  the  ministry,  bless  his  word  deli- 
vered by  them  to  the  good  of  mankind?"     The  inconsis- 

1  "  The  passages  referred  to  in  the  Moravian  sermon,  were  occasioned," 
he  says,  "  by  reports  of  a  separating  disposition  obtaining  in  New  England  ; 
I  was  informed  that  some  were  separating  from  the  ministry  of  such  as 
were  sound  in  principle,  regular  in  life,  and  approvers  of  God's  work ;  and 
that  some  staid  at  home,  rather  than  they  would  hear  such,  merely  because 
they  judged  them  to  be  unconverted." — Examiner  Examined,  p.  90. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  167 

tency  between  these  sentiments  and  those  elsewhere  advo- 
cated by  Mr.  Tennent,  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  his 
opponents,  who  arrayed  the  conflicting  assertions  in  paral- 
lel columns.  ^ 

This  attack  evidently  placed  Mr.  Tennent  in  consider- 
able difficulties.  The  revival  and  the  excitements  by  which 
it  was  attended,  had  not  yet  subsided.  He  was  not  pre- 
pared, therefore,  fully  and  kindly  to  retract,  as  he  subse- 
quently did,  either  his  censorious  condemnation  of  his 
brethren,  or  his  divisive  principles.  He  was  thus  led  to 
endeavour  to  reconcile  and  justify  both  classes  of  his  con- 
flicting statements.  One  explanation  was,  that  in  the  ser- 
mons against  the  Moravians,  he  meant  to  condemn  the  prac- 
tice of  separating  from  ministers  who  were  not  only  sound 
and  regular,  but  also  "  favourers  of  God's  work,"  i.  e.  the 
revival.  ^  But  this  last  qualification  is  not  found  in  those  ser- 
mons. He  condemns  separation  from  sound  and  regular  pas- 
tors, on  the  assumption  of  their  being  unconverted;  and  to 
this  he  exhorted  the  people  in  the  Nottingham  sermon.  A 
second  mode  of  explanation  was,  that  he  only  intended,  in 
the  Nottingham  sermon,  to  teach  that  the  people  might 
apply  for  a  regular  dismission  from  the  congregation  to 

'  This  was  done  by  a  Boston  writer  calling  himself  Philalcthes,  in  a  book 
entitled,  The  Examiner,  or  Gilbert  against  Tennent.    Boston,  1743. 

The  things  for  which  Mr.  Tennent  particularly  censures  the  Moravians, 
are,  1.  Censoriousness ;  speaking  reproachfully  of  all  the  reformed  churches. 
2.  Dividing  congregations,  and  "  scattering  Christ's  poor  sheep."  3.  Thrust- 
ing ignorant  novices  into  the  ministry.  4.  For  their  slight  and  sudden  con- 
versions, done  in  a  moment.  "  What,"  he  asks,  "  is  the  Moravian  faith,  but 
a  sorry  mushroom  of  a  night's  growth?"  5.  For  addressing  themselves  to 
the  affections  rather  than  to  the  understandings  of  the  people,  and  endeavour- 
ing to  gain  over  the  young,  the  ignorant,  and  females.  "  Whom  do  they  imi- 
tate in  attacking  the  weaker  part  of  man,  viz.  the  passions,  and  the  weaker 
sex  first,  but  the  devil,  the  father  of  lies  and  of  errors  ?" 

2  Examiner  Examined,  p.  90. 


168  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

which  they  belonged.  As  the  pastor  might  leave  the  peo- 
ple, so  the  people  might  leave  the  pastor  in  a  regular  man- 
ner. ^  He  says  he  intended  to  enjoin  on  the  people  to  make 
a  regular  application  to  the  pastor  and  session  for  leave  to 
go  elsewhere,  assigning  their  reasons  for  so  doing.  "  If 
these  reasons  are  not  accounted  valid,  and  the  case  be 
really  so,  they  ought  to  desist.  But  if  they  are  wronged 
they  ought  to  appeal  to  a  higher  judicatory;  but  if  the  case 
should  so  happen,  that  after  every  appeal  they  can  make, 
and  the  most  humble  and  impartial  examination  of  the 
affair,  they  firmly  think  they  are  wronged,  and  are  con- 
science-bound in  the  matter,  they  ought  to  judge  for  them- 
selves and  act  according  to  their  consciences."  ^  That  this 
interpretation  of  his  sermon  is  at  variance  with  its  language 
need  hardly  be  remarked.  It  is  no  less  obviously  incon- 
sistent with  the  other  explanation,  to  wit,  that  the  people 
ought  not  to  leave  their  ministers,  whether  converted  or 
not,  provided  they  favoured  the  revival;  but  if  they  oppos- 
ed it,  it  was  a  great  sin  to  adhere  to  them.  And  it  is  cer- 
tain the  above  interpretation  was  never  put  upon  his  ser- 
mon, either  by  his  friends  or  opponents.  The  separatists 
did  not  wait  to  apply  to  one  judicatory  after  another,  but 
went  off  without  asking  or  desiring  leave. 

Mr.  Tennent  sometimes  goes  still  further,  and  denies  that 
he  ever  encouraged  separations.  In  reference  to  this  charge, 
he  says,  "It  is  false;  there  is  not  a  word  in  that  (Notting- 
ham) sermon  which  encourages  separate  meetings  from 
any  ministry,  merely  because  they  are  unconverted."  Hav- 
ing made  a  similar  denial  before,  his  opponents  said  it  was 
a  notorious  falsehood,  and  that  the  whole  country  knew 
that  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press  he  had  encouraged  the 
people  to  forsake  their  ministry.     This  statement,  he  says, 

1  Examiner  Examined,  p.  26.  2  Jbid.  p.  21,  22. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES,  \QQ 

t 


"is  a  dreadful  instance  of  effronted  impiety.  0  shame! 
what  sort  of  men  are  these  who  not  only  assert  an  egregi- 
ous falsehood,  but  appeal  to  the  whole  country  to  prove  it. 
To  confront  their  charge,  I  do  appeal  to  the  numerous 
multitudes,  wherever  I  have  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
if  what  they  have  alleged  be  not  a  groundless  and  crimson 
calumny,  which  those  enemies  of  the  power  of  religion  do 
impute  to  me.  It  is  the  necessity  of  their  wretched  cause, 
that  urges  those  unhappy  men  to  take  such  sinful  and  scan- 
dalous methods,  in  order  to  cloak  their  horrible  wickedness 
in  opposing  God's  work,  which  has  been  the  real  cause  of 
the  divisions  subsisting  among  us;  which  they,  without 
foundation,  ascribe  to  me."  ^  This  denial  is  so  hearty  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt  its  sincerity.  It  is,  however,  no  less 
impossible  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  charge.  His  Notting- 
ham sermon  not  only  teaches  that  it  is  lawful  and  expedi- 
ent to  leave  the  ministry  of  natural  men,  but  it  argues  the 
point,  enjoins  it  as  a  duty  commanded  by  Scripture,  and 
earnestly  exhorts  his  hearers  to  the  performance  of  it.  The 
same  thing  is  taught  over  and  over  in  this  very  book, 
which  contains  the  above  denial. 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  Tennent,  like  other  vehement  men, 
often  said  more  than  he  meant.  He  acted  more  from  feel- 
ing than  from  principle.  When  he  thought  of  the  people 
desirous  of  fervent  preaching,  sitting  under  cold  and  lifeless 
ministrations,  his  soul  caught  fire,  and  he  urged  them  to 
leave  their  sapless  preachers,  and  justified  their  doing  so. 
But  when  he  saw  rash  enthusiasts,  who  thought  all  persons 
dead  but  themselves,  scattering  the  congregations  of  pious 
men,  he  denounced  their  conduct,  and  was  obliged  to  lay 
down  a  canon  which  condemned  his  own  course.  That 
canon  was,  that  we  have  no  right  to  regard  or  treat  as 

'  Examiner  Examined,  p.  88,  89. 
15 


170  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

graceless  those  who  are  sound  in  essential  doctrines  and 
regular  in  life.  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  friends  had  grievous- 
ly offended  against  this  rule.  They  not  only  had  pro- 
nounced such  men  to  be  unconverted,  but  had  acted  on  the 
assumption  of  their  being  so,  and  treated  them  as  unfit  for 
their  offices.  It  may  easily  be  conceived  what  a  state  of 
things  would  be  produced  by  some  half  dozen  ministers 
assuming  the  prerogative  of  judging  of  the  hearts  of  their 
brethren,  denouncing  them  as  unconverted,  entering  their 
congregations,  exhorting  their  people  to  leave  them,  and 
every  where  erecting  new  congregations.  This  the  New 
Brunswick  brethren  did  very  extensively;  and  this,  more 
than  any  thing  else,  was  the  cause  of  the  schism.  It  was 
in  fact  schism  itself,  in  its  worst  form.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  this  conduct  called  forth  loud  complaints  of 
the  arrogant  assumption  of  power  on  the  part  of  a  few  men, 
to  judge  and  condemn  their  brethren;  of  the  injustice  of 
condemning  them  without  a  trial  before  a  competent  tribu- 
nal; and  of  the  grievous  injuries  which  were  thus  inflicted 
upon  them  and  their  churches. 

These  complaints  were  sometimes  brought  before  the 
presbyteries,  though  seldom  to  any  good  purpose.  Thus 
in  1740,  a  representation  was  made  to  the  presbytery  of 
Donegal  in  reference  to  Mr.  Blair,  for  intruding  into  the 
congregations  of  several  of  their  members;  and  Mr.  John 
Thompson  was  requested  to  go  to  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, to  which  Mr.  Blair  belonged,  and  call  their  attention 
to  the  case.  ^  The  same  year  Mr.  Alison  presented  a  com- 
plaint on  the  same  ground  against  Mr.  Alexander  Creag- 
head,  which  was  accompanied  with  "  a  supplication  from 
several  members  of  Mr.  Creaghead's  congregation,  com- 
plaining of  his  mal-conduct  in  several  particulars."     The 

•  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  p.  203. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  171 

presbytery  met  at  Middle  Octarara  to  examine  these  char- 
ges. Besides  the  complaint  of  Mr.  Alison  of  the  presbytery 
of  Newcastle,  Mr.  Creaghead  was  charged  by  some  of  his 
own  congregation,  1.  With  absenting  himself  from  pres- 
bytery. 2.  With  imposing  new  terms  of  communion  on 
his  people  at  the  baptism  of  their  children.  3.  With  exclu- 
ding a  person  from  the  communion,  because  he  seemed  lo 
be  opposed  to  his  new  methods.  4.  With  asserting  that 
the  ministers  of  Christ  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  any  par- 
ticular charge.  The  new  term  of  communion  here  com- 
plained of  was,  no  doubt,  the  adoption  of  the  solemn  league 
and  covenant,  which  it  seems  he  and  Mr.  John  Cross  of 
the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  were  often  in  the  habit 
of  imposing  on  their  people.  ^  When  the  presbytery  were 
about  to  proceed  with  this  case,  they  "  were  interrupted  by 
the  people  rising  into  a  tumult,  and  railing  at  the  members 
in  the  most  scurrilous  and  opprobrious  manner;  so  that 
having  concluded  with  prayer,  they  were  obliged  to  ad- 
journ to  another  place." 

The  presbytery  in  their  account  of  this  trial,  if  trial  it  can 
be  called,  state  that  when  they  came  to  the  church,  they 
found  Mr.  Creaghead  preaching  on  the  text,  '  Let  them 
alone,  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind;'  and  that  his 
sermon  was  almost  a  continued  invective  against  such  as  he 
called  Pharisee  preachers,  and  against  the  presbytery  in 
particular,  asserting  that  they  were  given  over  to  judicial 

'  Thompson's  Government  of  the  Church.— "  Some  of  them  preach  up  the 
national  and  solemn  league  and  covenants ;  and  give  the  breach  of  those 
covenants  as  the  great  and  principal  cause  of  the  great  decay  of  religion 
among  us.  Others  of  the  same  party  never  mention  it,  that  I  liear  of.  Some 
of  them  obhge  parents  to  these  covenants  at  the  baptism  of  their  children; 
and  others  do  not.  Yea,  the  same  persons  sometimes  oblige  parents  to  these 
covenants,  and  sometimes  do  not;  as  for  instance  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead, 
and  Mr.  John  Cross."  p.  43. 


172        '  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

hardness  of  heart  and  impenitency.  After  the  sermon  Mr. 
Creaghead  invited  the  congregation,  which  was  very  large, 
to  the  tent,  where  they  were  entertained  with  the  reading 
of  a  paper  which  he  called  his  defence,  containing  the  most 
slanderous  reproaches  against  the  members  of  the  presby- 
tery, some  of  whom  were  mentioned  by  name.  This  paper 
was  read  by  Mr.  David  Alexander  and  Mr.  Samuel  Fin- 
ley,  ^  and  the  presbytery  themselves  were  summoned  to 
attend. 

The  next  day,  when  the  presbytery  were  about  to 
inquire  into  the  complaints  against  Mr.  Creaghead,  he 
came  in,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Alexander  and  Mr.  Finley, 
and  insisted  upon  again  reading  his  defence.  The  presby- 
tery requested  him  first  to  allow  the  charges  to  be  pre- 
sented. This  he  refused  to  do,  and  insisted  that  the  defence 
should  be  read  first.  Whereupon  Messrs.  Alexander  and 
Finley  ascended  the  pulpit  and  read  the  paper,  which  had 
been  read  to  the  people  the  day  before.  In  the  beginning 
of  this  paper  Mr.  Creaghead  utterly  declined  the  authority 
of  the  presbytery,  and  protested  against  their  proceeding 
with  the  case,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  all  his  accu- 
sers. In  view  of  the  several  complaints  against  Mr.  C, 
and  of  his  contumacy  and  disorderly  conduct,  the  presby- 
tery suspended  him  from  the  ministry  until  their  next 
meeting;  directing,  however,  that  if  he  should  signify  his 
sorrow  for  his  conduct  to  any  member,  that  member  should 
notify  the  moderator,  who  was  to  call  the  presbytery 
together  to  consider  his  acknowledgment  and  take  off  the 
suspension.^ 

There  were,  at  this  time,  in  that  presbytery,  together 
with  several  excellent  men,  a  few  members  from  Ireland, 

'  Mr.  Finley  was  at  this  time  a  licentiate  of  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick.  2  Minutes  of  Donegal  presbytery,  pp.  205 — 6. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES,  X73 

whose  conduct  brought  a  reproach  upon  the  whole  body, 
but  who  were  soon  suspended  and  discarded  by  their 
brethren.  The  presence  of  those  members,  unconvicted, 
and  even  unaccused  as  yet,  could  atibrd  little  justification 
for  the  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Creaghead,  in  absenting 
himself  from  the  presbytery,  disregarding  their  authority, 
and  especially  in  reading  his  calumnious  charges  against 
the  whole  body  to  a  promiscuous  and  excited  audience.^ 

Tlie  presbytery  had  a  difficulty  also  with  Mr.  David 
Alexander.  In  October  1740,  he  was  cited  to  answer  a 
complaint  for  preaching  in  a  disorderly  manner  in  Mr. 
Black's  congregation,  and  for  absenting  himself  time  after 
time  from  the  presbytery,  without  excuse.  ^  When  the 
presbytery  met  in  December  following,  he  assigned  as  the 
reasons  of  his  absence,  bodily  weakness,  and  certain  scru- 
ples which  he  had  in  reference  to  the  conduct  of  the  pres- 
bytery. One  of  these  scruples  was,  their  "opposing  the 
work  of  God,  in  seeming  to  condemn  the  crying  out  of 
people  at  sermons,  and  opposing  those  ministers  who  seem 
instrumental  in  carrying  on  these  things."  Another  was, 
their  too  superficial  examination  of  candidates.  For  others, 
it  appears,  he  referred  the  presbytery  to  the  paper  above 
mentioned  as  Mr.  Creaghead's  defence.  He  added,  however^ 
that  he  was  still  willing  to  consider  himself  a  member  of 

1  Mr.  Tenncnt,  in  1743,  speaking  of  this  gentleman,  says,  "Tliere  is  one 
indeed,  who  I  hope  is  a  pious  man,  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead  by  name,  who 
was  formerly  in  a  state  of  union  with  us,  but  having  more  zeal  and  positive- 
ness  than  knowledge  and  judgment,  has  scliismatically  broken  communion 
with  us,  and  adopted  the  rigid  Cameronian  scheme.  He  is  indeed  tinged 
with  an  uncharitable  and  party  spirit,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  real  religion 
in  some  places,  this  way.  May  the  Almighty  forgive  him,  and  recti ly  his 
judgment.  His  late  and  present  divisive  conduct  we  utterly  detest  and  dis- 
claim."— Examiner  Examined,  p.  120. 

2  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  p.  203. 

15* 


174  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  presbytery.  To  this  the  presbytery  rephed,  they  would 
recognise  him  as  a  member,  provided  he  "  acknowledged 
his  sinful  disorder  in  absenting  himself  from  presbytery  on 
account  of  these  scruples,  without  having  remonstrated  them 
to  the  presbytery;  and  provided  he  promised  not  to  absent 
himself  in  future,  on  account  of  these  or  any  other  scruples, 
in  the  same  manner,  without  previously  intimating  them  to 
the  presbytery  in  a  judicial  way."  ^  With  these  provisos 
he  refused  to  comply,  and  the  other  part  of  the  charge 
against  him,  not  being  immediately  taken  up,  he  left  the 
place.  The  presbytery  then  determined  to  cite  him  to 
attend  their  next  meeting,  to  answer  for  his  disorderly 
conduct  in  endorsing  and  reading  the  charges  against  the 
presbytery,  contained  in  Mr.  Creaghead's  defence,  without 
the  consent  of  the  presbytery,  and  before  a  large  congrega- 
tion; and  for  leaving  the  presbytery  after  having  said  in  a 
boasting  manner,  that  the  real  charge  against  him  was 
preaching  in  Mr.  Black's  congregation,  which  he  acknow- 
ledged, and  would  do  it  again  and  again.  This  citation  he 
refused  to  answer.  ^  He  was  cited  a  second  time  to  answer 
the  above  charges,  and  a  fama  clamosa  charge  of  intem- 
perance. In  consequence  of  this  second  call,  he  appeared 
at  the  meeting  held  May,  1741,  and  "  by  taking  the  pulpit 
prevented  the  moderator,  who  had  prepared  to  preach." 
He  gave  as  his  reason  for  not  answering  the  first  citation, 
that  the  presbytery  had  cut  him  off  from  being  a  member; 
and  that  he  told  the  person  citing  him,  that  he  had  appealed 
to  the  synod.  With  regard  to  the  charge  of  intemperance, 
he  said  it  arose  from  what  occurred  at  a  funeral,  where  he 
acknowledged  "  he  had  drunk  some  more  than  was  neces- 
sary."^   The  presbytery  acquitted  him  of  the  charge  of 

1  Min-utes  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  p.  207. 

2  Ibid.  p.  212.  3  Ibid.  p.  224. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  J[75 

intemperance  to  the  extent  reported;  but  on  account  of  his 
acknowledged  indiscretion,  and  of  his  disorderly  conduct, 
and  reproaching  the  presbytery,  they  said  they  could  not 
regard  him  as  a  member  "until  we  be  satisfied  as  to  these 
pieces  of  his  disregardful  conduct  towards  us,  and  refusing 
to  submit  to  the  government  of  Christ's  church  in  our 
hands.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot  but,  with  deep  sorrow 
of  heart,  bewail  the  unhappy,  divided,  and  distracted  state 
of  this  poor  church,  through  the  uncharitable  opposition  of 
both  ministers  and  people  against  one  another."  ^ 

These  are  melancholy  scenes  to  occur  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  revival  of  religion.  Such,  however,  was  the  tumult 
excited  in  the  public  mind,  that,  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  every  thing  seemed  to  get  into  confusion,  and 
even  gQod  men  were  alienated  from  each  other.  A  portion 
of  the  ministers  of  the  synod  having  lost  confidence  in  the 
majority  of  their  brethren,  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce 
them  as  unconverted  men,  and  exhort  their  people  to  leave 
them.  The  consequence  was,  that  many  congregations 
were  broken  up,  and  many  more  divided.  The  synod  of 
1741,  therefore,  met  under  circumstances  very  unfavoura- 
ble to  peace  and  union.  The  majority  felt  themselves 
grievously  injured,  both  in  character  and  in  their  pastoral 
relations.  It  is  no  wonder  then  that  they  came  together 
determined,  if  possible,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  prevailing  dis- 
orders; nor,  considering  their  state  of  mind,  is  it  surprising 
that  they  mistook  their  remedy  and  placed  themselves  in 
the  wrong. 

The  synod  met  in  Philadelphia,  May  2, 1741.  Mr.  Pier- 
son,  the  moderator  for  the  preceding  year,  being  absent,  the 
sessions  were  opened  with  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Andrews, 
who  was  elected  moderator,  and  Mr.  Boyd  was  appointed 

'  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  p.  225. 


176  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

clerk.  The  following  ministers  were  in  attendance,  viz: 
From  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  George  Gillespie, 
Robert  Cathcart,  Charles  Tennent,  Francis  Alison,  Alex- 
ander Hucheson,  and  Samuel  Blair,  From  the  presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  Jedediah  Andrews,  Robert  Cross,  Daniel 
Elmer,  Francis  McHenry,  Richard  Treat,  and  William 
Tennent,  Sen'r.  From  the  presbytery  of  Lewes,  James 
Martin,  and  Robert  Jamison.  From  the  presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick,  Eleazer  Wales,  Gilbert  Tennent,  and 
William  Tennent,  Jun'r.  From  the  presbytery  of  Donegal, 
John  Thompson,  Adam  Boyd,  John  Elder,  Richard  San- 
chy,  Samuel  Cavin,  Samuel  Thompson,  Alexander  Creag- 
head,  and  David  Alexander.  All  the  members  of  the 
presbytery  of  New  York  were  absent. 

The  first  matter  which  occasioned  difficulty  was  the  case 
of  Mr.  Alexander  Creaghead.  Having  been  suspended  by 
his  own  presbytery,  it  would  appear  to  be  a  matter  of 
course,  that  he  should  not  take  his  seat  as  a  member  of 
synod,  until  that  sentence  was  reversed.  He  seems,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  enrolled  from  the  first  as  a  regular 
member.  As  he  had  not  submitted  to  a  trial  before  the 
inferior  judicatory,  according  to  ordinary  rules  of  proceed- 
ing, he  had  no  right  to  appeal  to  a  higher.  This  point, 
however,  appears  to  have  been  waved  in  his  favour,  and 
the  synod  took  up  the  question  of  his  right  to  a  seat,  "  and 
after  much  discourse  upon  it,  and  a  paper  of  Mr.  Creaghead 
being  read,  the  synod  deferred  the  further  consideration  of 
it."  In  the  afternoon  the  case  was  resumed,  when  "  Mr. 
Creaghead  presented  another  paper,  which  was  read,  and 
after  debating  on  that  business,  the  synod  agreed  that  this 
and  the  former  paper  be  perused  by  the  Donegal  presby- 
tery, in  order  for  trial  against  to-morrow  afternoon."  The 
next  minute  in  relation  to  the  subject,  states,  that  "the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  177 

presbytery  of  Donegal,  as  appointed,  began  their  reply  to 
Mr.  Creaghead's  papers,  in  several  particulars,  but  being 
late  it  was  deferred."  The  next  morning  "  the  above  affair 
continued,  and  a  great  deal  of  discourse  maintained  upon 
it,  when  the  synod  deferred  the  further  consideration  of  it." 
This  was  on  Saturday  the  30th  of  May;  on  Monday  the 
1st  of  June  the  schism  occurred,  and  of  course  the  subject 
was  dropt. 

It  appears  there  were  two  points  which  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  synod.  The  one  was  the  difficulty  between 
Mr.  Creaghead  and  his  presbytery,  and  the  other  the  com- 
plaint of  Mr.  Alison  against  Mr.  Creaghead  for  intruding 
into  his  congregation.  As  to  the  former  there  seems  to 
have  been  little  progress  made  in  adjusting  the  matter.  It 
was  proposed  that  a  committee  should  be  sent  down  to  try 
the  case.  Mr.  Creaghead  insisted,  if  that  were  done,  the 
majority  of  the  committee  should  be  of  the  "  New  Bruns- 
wick party."  To  this  the  other  side  objected,  and  in  their 
turn  opposed  the  appointment  of  certain  individuals  who 
had  been  nominated.  ^ 

The  other  point  was  most  disputed,  and  seems  to  have 
brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  Mr.  Alison  contended,  that  as 
he  had  regularly  tabled  charges  against  Mr.  Creaghead 
before  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  for  intruding  into  his 
congregation,  "  to  rend  and  divide  it  against  his  mind,  the 
mind  of  the  session,  and  the  declared  opinion  of  the  con- 
gregation in  general;"  and  as  Mr.  Creaghead  had  refused 
to  submit  to  a  trial  before  the  presbytery,  it  was  his  un- 
doubted right  to  bring  the  complaint  before  the  synod  and 
have  the  matter  tried  there.  He  urged  this  the  rather 
because  there  was  no  need  of  testimony  in  the  case,  as 

I  Refutation  of  Mr.  Tennent's  remarks  on  the  Protest,  pp.  37,  38. 


178  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

"Mr.  Creaghead  publicly  acknowledged  the  whole  fact" 
complained  of;  and  because  an  opportunity  would  thus  be 
offered  to  the  synod,  and  especially  to  the  New  Brunswick 
party,  to  show  how  far  they  were  willing  to  condemn  this 
disorderly  intrusion  into  settled  congregations,  and  to  make 
proposals  for  peace.  ^  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  friends  resisted 
the  complaint's  being  entertained  "  merely  because  Donegal 
presbytery  did  not  enter  it  on  their  records  as  a  prime  arti- 
cle." It  is  difficult  to  see  the  force  of  this  objection.  The 
complaint  did  not  come  to  the  synod  through  the  presby- 
tery of  Donegal,  but  directly  from  Mr.  Alison.  The  com- 
plaint as  presented  to  the  presbytery  had  proved  inopera- 
tive, for  though  the  disorder  complained  of  was  one  of 
the  several  grounds  on  which  the  presbytery  suspended 
Mr.  Creaghead,  yet  he  not  only  refused  to  answer  the 
charge,  but  had  disregarded  their  sentence.  It  seems  rather 
unfair  that  the  action  of  the  presbytery  should  be  consi- 
dered a  nullity  as  it  regarded  Mr.  Creaghead,  and  as  valid 
in  satisfying  Mr.  Alison's  complaint.  He  had  applied  to 
the  presbytery  for  redress  and  had  obtained  none;  for  its 
authority  had  been  denied  and  its  sentence  disregarded. 
When,  therefore,  in  due  course  he  applied  to  the  synod,  he 
had  reason  to  expect  to  be  heard.  Resisting  this  course  on 
technical  grounds  was  certainly  very  unfortunate,  as  an 
opportunity  was  thus  lost  of  satisfying  the  minds  of  the 
aggrieved  members,  that  the  New  Brunswick  brethren 
would  not  deliberately  sanction  "the  practice  of  breaking 
in  upon  and  dissolving  pastoral  relations  in  such  an  unscrip- 
tural  and  anti-presbyterial  way."  The  result  of  this  attempt 
to  bring  up  the  matter  in  complaint,  the  majority  of  the 

'  Refutation  of  Mr.  Tenncnt's  remarks  on  the  protest,  pp.  39,  40;  also  the 
Preface  to  the  printed  copy  of  the  Protest. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  ]  79 

synod  say,  "put  us  out  of  all  hopes  of  obtaining  peace  with 
our  brethren  upon  such  terms  as  are  founded  on  the  word 
of  God,  and  our  presbyterian  constitution." 

This  last  effort  at  accommodation  having  failed,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Cross,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Philadelphia,  rose  and  read  the  following  Protestation, 
viz. 

"  Rev.  Fathers  and  Brethren: 

"  We,  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  members  of 
the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  being  wounded  and  grieved  in 
our  very  hearts,  at  the  dreadful  divisions,  distractions,  and 
convulsions,  which  all  of  a  sudden  have  seized  this  infant 
church  to  such  a  degree  that  unless  He,  who  is  king  in 
Zion,  do  graciously  and  seasonably  interfere  for  our  relief, 
she  is  in  no  small  danger  of  expiring  outright,  and  that 
quickly,  as  to  the  form,  order,  and  constitution  of  an  orga- 
nized church,  which  hath  subsisted  for  above  thirty  years 
past,  in  a  very  great  degree  of  order  and  perfect  harmony 
until  of  late;  we  say,  we  being  deeply  grieved  with  these 
things,  which  lie  heavy  on  our  spirits,  and  being  sensible 
that  it  is  our  indispensable  duty  to  do  what  lies  in  our 
power,  in  a  lawful  way,  according  to  the  light  and  direc- 
tions of  the  inspired  oracles,  to  preserve  this  swooning 
church  from  a  total  expiration ;  and  after  the  deliberate  and 
unprejudiced  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  these  confusions, 
which  rage  so  among  us,  both  ministers  and  people,  we 
evidently  seeing,  and  being  fully  persuaded  in  our  judg- 
ments, that,  besides  our  misimprovement  of,  and  unfruitful- 
ness  under,  gospel  light,  liberty,  and  privileges,  the  great 
decay  of  practical  godliness  in  the  life  and  power  of  it,  and 
many  abounding  immoralities ;  we  say,  besides  these  our 
sins,  which  we  judge  to  be  the  meritorious  cause  of  our 


180  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

present  doleful  distractions,  the  awful  judgments  we  now 
suffer  under;  we  evidently  see,  that  our  protesting  brethren,  ^ 
and  their  adherents,  are  the  direct  and  proper  cause  there- 
of, by  their  unwearied,  unscriptural,  antipresbyterial,  un- 
charitable divisive  practices,  which  they  have  been  pursu- 
ing with  all  the  diligence  they  were  capable  of,  with  any 
probability  of  success,  for  above  these  twelve  months  past 
especially;  besides  too  much  of  the  like  practices  for  some 
years  before,  though  not  with  such  barefaced  arrogance  and 
boldness: 

"And  being  fully  convinced  in  our  judgments,  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  bear  testimony  against  these  disorderly  pro- 
ceedings, according  to  our  stations,  capacity,  and  trust 
reposed  in  us  by  our  exalted  Lord,  as  watchmen  on  the 
walls  of  his  Zion,  we  having  endeavoured  sincerely  to  seek 
counsel  and  direction  from  God,  who  hath  promised  to  give 
wisdom  to  those  who  ask  him  in  faith,  yea,  hath  promised 
his  Holy  Spirit  to  lead  his  people  and  servants  into  all 
truth;  and  being  clearly  convinced  in  our  consciences,  that  it 
is  a  duty  we  are  called  unto  in  this  present  juncture  of  affairs, 
"  Reverend  fathers  and  brethren,  we  hereby  humbly  and 
solemnly  protest,  in  the  presence  of  the  great  and  eternal 
God,  and  his  elect  angels,  as  well  as  in  the  presence  of  all 
here  present,  and  particularly  of  you,  reverend  brethren, 
in  our  own  names,  and  in  the  names  of  all,  both  ministers 
and  people,  who  shall  adhere  to  us,  as  follows: 

"  1.  We  protest  that  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  this 
synod  to  maintain  and  stand  by  the  principles  of  doctrine, 
worship,  and  government  of  the  church  of  Christ,  as  the 

'  Tliat  is,  the  brethren  who  protested  against  the  synod's  act  respecting 
the  examination  of  candidates,  viz.  the  four  Tennents,  Mr.  Blair,  Mr.  Wales, 
Mr.  John  Cross  and  Mr.  Creaghead. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  181 

same  are  summed  up  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Cate- 
chisms, and  Directory  composed  by  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly, as  being  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  and  which  this 
synod  have  owned,  acknowledged,  and  adopted,  as  may 
appear  from  our  synodical  records  of  the  years  1729,  1730, 
1736,  which  we  desire  to  be  read  publicly. 

"  2.  We  protest  that  no  person,  minister  or  elder,  should 
be  allowed  to  sit  and  vote  in  this  synod,  who  hath  not 
received,  adopted,  or  subscribed  the  said  Confession,  Cate- 
chisms, and  Directory,  as  our  presbyteries  respectively  do, 
according  to  our  last  explication  of  the  adopting  act;  or 
who  is  either  accused  or  convicted,  or  may  be  convicted 
before  this  synod,  or  any  of  our  presbyteries,  of  holding 
any  doctrine,  or  who  acts  and  persists  in  any  practice  con- 
trary to  any  of  those  doctrines,  or  rules  contained  in  said 
Directory,  or  contrary  to  any  of  the  known  rights  of  pres- 
bytery, or  orders  made  and  agreed  to  by  this  synod,  and 
which  stand  yet  unrepealed;  unless,  or  until  he  renounce 
such  doctrine,  and  being  found  guilty,  acknowledge,  con- 
fess, and  profess  his  sorrow  for  such  sinful  disorder,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  this  synod,  or  such  inferior  judicatory  as  the 
synod  shall  appoint  or  impower  for  that  purpose. 

"  3.  We  protest  that  our  protesting  brethren  have  at  pre- 
sent no  right  to  sit  and  vote  as  members  of  this  synod,  hav- 
ing forfeited  their  right  of  being  accounted  members  of  it, 
for  many  reasons,  a  few  of  which  we  shall  mention  after- 
wards. 

"  4.  We  protest,  that  if,  notwithstanding  of  this  our  pro- 
testation, those  brethren  be  allowed  to  sit  and  vote  in  this 
synod,  without  giving  suitable  satisfaction  to  the  synod, 
and  particularly  to  us,  who  now  enter  this  protestation,  and 
to  those  who  shall  adhere  to  us  in  it,  that  whatsoever  shall 
be  done,  voted,  or  transacted  by  them  contrary  to  our  judg- 

16 


182  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

ment,  shall  be  of  no  force  or  obligation  to  us;  being  done 
and  acted  by  a  judicatory  consisting  in  part  of  members 
who  have  no  authority  to  act  with  us  in  ecclesiastical 
matters. 

"  5.  We  protest,  that  if,  notwithstanding  this  our  protes- 
tation, and  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  it,  those  protest- 
ing brethren,  and  such  as  adhere  to  them,  or  support  or 
countenance  them  in  their  antipresbyterial  practices,  shall 
continue  to  act  as  they  have  done  this  last  year,  in  that 
case  we,  and  as  many  as  have  clearness  to  join  with  us 
and  maintain  the  rights  of  this  judicatory,  shall  be  account- 
ed in  no  wise  disorderly,  but  the  true  presbyterian  church 
in  this  province;  and  they  shall  be  looked  upon  as  guilty 
of  schism,  and  the  breach  of  the  rules  of  presbyterian  govern- 
ment, which  Christ  has  established  in  his  church,  which  we 
are  ready  at  all  times  to  demonstrate  to  the  world. 

"  Reverend  and  dear  brethren,  we  beseech  you  to  hear 
us  with  patience,  while  we  lay  before  you  as  briefly  as  we 
can,  some  of  the  reasons  that  move  us  thus  to  protest,  and 
more  particularly,  why  we  protest  against  our  protesting 
brethren  being  allowed  to  sit  as  members  of  this  synod. 

"1.  Their  heterodox  and  anarchical  principles  express- 
ed in  their  Apology,  ^  pages  twenty-eight  and  thirty-nine, 
where  they  expressly  deny  that  presbyteries  have  autho- 
rity to  oblige  their  dissenting  members,  or  that  synods 
should  go  any  further  in  judging  of  appeals  or  references, 
&c.  than  to  give  their  best  advice;  which  is  plainly  to  divest 
the  officers  and  judicatories  of  Christ's  kingdom  of  all  au- 
thority, (and  plainly  contradicts  the  thirty-first  article  of 
our  Confession  of  Faith,  section  three,  which  those  brethren 

1  That  is,  the  Apology  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery  for  not  obeying 
the  two  acts  of  synod  respecting  itinerant  preaching,  and  the  examination 
of  candidates,  which  was  presented  to  the  synod,  May,  1739. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  183 

pretend  to  adopt,)  agreeable  to  which  is  the  whole  super- 
structure of  arguments  which  they  advance  and  maintain 
against  not  only  our  synodical  acts,  but  also  all  authority  to 
make  any  acts  or  orders  which  shall  bind  dissenting  mem- 
bers, throughout  their  whole  Apology. 

''  2.  Their  protesting  against  the  synod's  act  in  relation 
to  the  examination  of  candidates,  together  with  their  pro- 
ceeding to  license  and  ordain  men  to  the  ministry  in  oppo- 
sition to,  and  in  contempt  of  the  said  act  of  synod. 

"  3.  Their  making  irregular  irruptions  upon  the  congre- 
gations, to  which  they  have  no  immediate  relation,  without 
order,  concurrence,  or  allowance  of  the  presbyteries,  or 
ministers  to  which  such  congregations  belong;  thereby 
sowing  the  seeds  of  division  among  the  people,  and  doing 
what  they  can  to  alienate  and  fill  their  minds  with  unjust 
prejudices  against  their  lawfully  called  pastors. 

"4.  Their  principles  and  practice  of  rash  judging  and 
condemning  all  who  do  not  fall  in  with  their  measures, 
both  ministers  and  people,  as  carnal,  graceless,  and  ene- 
mies of  the  work  of  God,  and  what  not;  as  appears  in  Mr. 
Gilbert  Tennent's  sermon  against  unconverted  ministers, 
and  his  and  Mr.  Blair's  papers  of  May  last,  which  were 
read  in  open  synod;  which  rash  judging  has  been  the  con- 
stant practice  of  our  protesting  brethren  and  their  irregular 
probationers,  for  above  these  twelve  months  past,  in  their 
disorderly  itinerations  and  preaching  through  our  congre- 
gations, by  which,  alas  for  it !  most  of  our  congregations, 
through  weakness  and  credulity,  are  so  shattered  and  divid- 
ed, and  shaken  in  their  principles,  that  few  or  none  of  us 
can  say  we  enjoy  the  comfort,  or  have  the  success  among 
our  people,  which  otherwise  we  might,  and  which  we 
enjoyed  heretofore. 

"  5.  Their  industriously  persuading  people  that  the  call 


184  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  God,  whereby  he  calls  men  to  the  ministry,  does  not  con- 
sist in  their  being  regularly  ordained  and  set  apart  to  the 
work,  according  to  the  instruction  and  rules  of  the  word; 
but  in  some  invisible  motions  and  workings  of  the  Spirit, 
which  none  can  be  conscious  or  sensible  of,  hut  the  person 
himself,  and  with  respect  to  which  he  is  liable  to  be  de- 
ceived, or  to  play  the  hypocrite.  That  the  gospel  preach- 
ed in  truth  by  unconverted  ministers,  can  be  of  no  saving 
benefit  to  souls;  and  their  pointing  out  such  ministers 
whom  they  condemn  as  graceless,  by  their  rash  judging 
spirit,  they  effectually  carry  the  point  with  the  poor  credu- 
lous people,  who,  in  imitation  of  their  example,  and  under 
their  patronising,  judge  their  ministers  to  be  graceless,  and 
forsake  their  ministry  as  hurtful  rather  than  profitable. 

"  6.  Their  preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law  in  such  a 
manner  and  dialect  as  has  no  precedent  in  the  word  of  God, 
but  rather  appears  to  be  borrowed  from  a  worse  dialect; 
and  so  industriously  working  on  the  passions  and  affections 
of  weak  minds  as  to  cause  them  to  cry  out  in  a  hideous 
manner,  and  to  fall  down  in  convulsion-like  fits,  to  the  mar- 
ring of  the  profiting  both  of  themselves  and  others,  who  are 
so  taken  up  in  seeing  and  hearing  these  odd  symptoms, 
that  they  cannot  attend  to,  or  hear  what  the  preacher  says, 
and  then  after  all,  boasting  of  these  things  as  the  work  of 
God,  which  we  are  persuaded  do  proceed  from  an  inferior 
or  worse  cause. 

"  7.  Their,  or  some  of  them,  preaching  and  maintaining 
that  all  true  converts  are  as  certain  of  their  gracious  state, 
as  a  person  can  be  of  what  he  knows  by  his  outward 
senses;  and  are  able  to  give  a  narrative  of  the  time  and 
manner  of  their  conversion,  or  else  they  conclude  them  to 
be  in  a  natural  or  graceless  state;  and  that  a  gracious 
person  can  judge  of  another's  gracious  state,  otherwise  than 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  185 

by  his  profession  and  life:  that  people  are  under  no  sacred 
tie  or  relation  to  their  own  pastors  lawfully  called,  but  may 
leave  them  when  they  please,  and  ought  to  go  where  they 
think  they  get  most  good. 

"For  these  and  many  other  reasons  we  protest  before 
the  eternal  God,  his  holy  angels,  and  you,  reverend  bre- 
thren, and  before  all  here  present,  that  these  brethren  have 
no  right  to  be  acknowledged  as  members  of  this  judicatory 
of  Christ,  whose  principles  and  practices  are  so  diametri- 
cally opposite  to  our  doctrine  and  principles  of  government 
and  order,  which  the  great  King  of  the  church  hath  laid 
down  in  his  word.     How  absurd  and  monstrous  must  that 
union  be,  where  one  part  of  the  members  own  themselves 
obliged  in  conscience  to  the  judicial  determinations  of  the 
whole,  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  or  else  relinquish 
membership;  and  another  part  declare  they  are  not  obliged 
and  will  not  submit,  unless  the  determinations  be  according 
to  their  minds,  and  consequently  will  submit  to  no  rules  in 
making  of  which  they  are  in  the  negative.     Again,  how 
monstrously  absurd  is  it,  that  they  should  so  much  as  desire 
to  join  with  us,  or  we  with  them,  as  a  judicatory  made  up 
of  authoritative  officers  of  Jesus  Christ,  while  they  openly 
condemn  us  wholesale,  and  where  they  please  apply  their 
condemnatory  sentences  to  particular  brethren  by  name, 
without  judicial  process,  or  proving  them  guilty  of  heresy 
or  immorality,  and  at  the  same  time  will  not  hold  Christian 
communion  with  them.     Again,  how  absurd  is  the  union, 
while  some  of  the  members  of  the  same  body,  which  meets 
once  a  year  and  join  as  a  judicatory  of  Christ,  do  all  the 
rest  of  the  year,  what  they  can  openly  and  above-board,  to 
persuade  the  people  and  flocks  of  their  brethren  to  separate 
from  their  own  pastors  as  graceless  hypocrites,  and  yet  they 
do  not  separate  from  them  themselves,  but  join  with  them 

16* 


186  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

once  every  year  as  members  of  the  same  judicatory  of 
Christ,  and  oftener  when  presbyteries  are  mixed.  Is  it  not 
mireasonable  stupid  indolence  in  us  to  join  with  such  as  are 
avowedly  tearing  us  in  pieces  like  beasts  of  prey? 

"Again,  is  not  the  continuance  of  union  with  our  pro- 
testing brethren  absurd,  when  it  is  so  notorious  that  both 
their  doctrine  and  practice  are  so  directly  contrary  to  the 
adopting  act,  whereby  both  they  and  we  have  adopted  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory,  composed 
by  the  Westminster  Assembly?  Finally,  is  not  continuance 
of  union  absurd  with  those  who  arrogate  to  themselves  a 
right  and  power  to  palm  and  obtrude  members  on  our 
synod,  contrary  to  the  mind  and  judgment  of  the  body? 
In  sum,  a  continued  union,  in  our  judgment,  is  most  absurd 
and  inconsistent,  when  it  is  so  notorious  that  our  doctrine 
and  principles  of  church  government,  in  many  points,  are 
not  only  diverse  but  directly  opposite.  For  how  can  two 
walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed? 

•'Reverend  Fathers  and  Brethren,  these  are  a  part  and 
but  a  part  of  our  reasons  why  we  protest  as  above,  and 
which  we  have  only  hinted  at,  but  have  forborne  to  enlarge 
upon  them  as  we  might,  the  matter  and  substance  of  them 
are  so  well  known  to  you,  and  to  the  whole  world  about  us, 
that  we  judged  this  hint  sufficient  at  present,  to  declare  our 
serious  and  deliberate  judgment  in  the  matter,  and  as  we 
profess  ourselves  to  be  resolvedly  against  principles  and 
practice  both  of  anarchy  and  schism,  so  we  hope  that  God, 
whom  we  desire  to  serve  and  obey,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  ministers  we  are,  will  both  direct  and  enable  us  to 
conduct  ourselves  in  these  trying  times,  so  as  our  con- 
sciences will  not  reproach  us  as  long  as  we  live.  Let  God 
arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be  scattered;  but  let  the  righteous 
be  glad,  yea,  let  them  exceedingly  rejoice.     And  may  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  187 

Spirit  of  life  and  comfort,  revive  and  comfort  this  poor 
swooning  and  fainting  church,  quicken  her  to  spiritual  life, 
and  restore  her  to  the  exercise  of  true  charity,  peace,  and 
order. 

"Although  we  can  freely  and  from  the  bottom  of  our 
hearts,  justify  the  divine  proceedings  against  us  in  suffering 
us  to  fall  into  these  confusions  for  our  sins,  and  particularly 
for  the  great  decay  of  the  life  and  power  of  godliness 
among  all  ranks,  both  ministers  and  people;  yet  we  think 
it  to  be  our  present  duty  to  bear  testimony  against  these 
prevailing  disorders;  judging,  that  to  give  way  to  the 
breaking  down  the  hedge  of  discipline  and  government 
from  about  Christ's  vineyard,  is  far  from  being  the  proper 
method  of  causing  his  tender  plants  to  grow  in  grace  and 
fruitfulness.  As  it  is  our  duty  in  our  stations,  Avithout 
delay,  to  set  about  a  reformation  of  the  evils  which  have 
provoked  God  against  ourselves,  so  we  judge  the  strict  ob- 
servations of  his  laws  of  government  and  order,  and  not  the 
breaking  of  them  to  be  one  necessary  means  and  method  of 
this  necessary  and  much  to  be  desired  reformation.  And 
we  doubt  not,  but  when  our  God  sees  us  duly  humbled  and 
penitent  for  our  sins,  he  will  yet  return  to  us  in  mercy,  and 
cause  us  to  flourish  in  spiritual  life,  love,  unity,  and  order; 
though  perhaps  we  may  not  live  to  see  it,  yet  this  testimony 
that  we  now  bear,  may  ba  of  some  good  use  to  our  children 
yet  unborn,  when  God  shall  arise  and  have  mercy  upon 
Zion.  Signed,  Robert  Cross,  John  Thompson,  Francis 
Alison,  Robert  Cathcart,  Richard  Sancky,  John  Elder,  John 
Craig,  Samuel  Cavin,  Samuel  Thompson,  Adam  Boyd, 
James  Martin,  and  Robert  Jamison,  ministers ;  and  Ro- 
bert Porter,  Robert  McKnight,  William  McCullock,  John 
McEwen,  Robert  Craig,  James  Kerr,  Alexander  McKnight, 
elders." 


188  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

It  is  by  no  means  clear  how  this  protest  was  intended  to 
operate,  even  by  its  authors.  They  state,  1.  That  those 
who  will  not  conform  to  the  constitution  of  the  synod  have 
no  right  to  sit  and  vote  as  members.  2.  That  the  New 
Brunswick,  or  former  protesting  brethren  had  violated  that 
constitution,  both  by  the  avowal  of  principles  inconsistent 
with  it,  and  by  their  practice.  3.  This  being  the  case 
they  demanded  that  such  brethren  should  not  any  longer 
be  recognised  as  members.  It  is  evident  that  this  cannot 
be  regarded  as  a  regular  judicial  process.  The  accused 
were  not  even  named.  They  are  sometimes  designated 
as  the  "protesting  brethren;"  but  that  phrase  would  not 
include  either  Mr.  Treat,  or  Mr.  David  Alexander,  who 
were  both  included  in  the  accusation. '  Besides  this,  the 
protest  not  merely  presented  charges,  it  declared  the  per- 
sons implicated  to  be  guilty  and  determined  the  punishment. 
It  could  not,  therefore,  have  been  intended  as  the  com- 
mencement of  a  regular  process.  Perhaps  the  protestants 
expected  that  after  this  solemn  declaration  of  their  senti- 

•  Mr.  Alexander  was  one  of  the  most  obnoxious  members  of  that  party,  as 
has  already  been  seen.  And  Mr.  Treat,  though  he,  as  appears  from  the 
minutes  of  Philadelphia,  quoted  above,  strenuously  supported  the  contested 
acts  of  the  synod,  was  considered  as  one  of  the  "ringleaders."  In  a  letter 
to  President  Clap  of  Yale  College,  written  in  1746,  the  synod  say,  "We 
excluded  from  synodical  communion  the  four  Tennents,  Blair,  Creaghead, 
(who  has  since  turned  a  rigid  Covenanter  or  Cameronian,)  Treat,  and  Mr. 
Wales;  those,  especially  the  Tennents,  Blair,  and  Treat,  being  the  ringleaders 
of  our  divisions,  and  the  destroyers  of  good  learning  and  gospel  order  among 
us."     Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  iii.  p.  18. 

Mr.  Tennent  says,  the  ministers  protested  against,  were  William  Ten- 
nent,  Sen'r.,  Richard  Treat,  Samuel  Blair,  Charles  Tennent,  James  (David) 
Alexander,  Alexander  Creaghead,  William  Tennent,  Jun'r.,  Eleazar  Wales, 
John  Rowland,  Gilbert  Tennent. — Remarks  on  the  Protest,  p.  33.  Of  these, 
however,  Mr.  Rowland  had  never  been  received  as  a  member,  Mr.  Creaghead 
was  suspended,  and  Mr.  Alexander  disowned,  before  the  synod  met. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  189 

ments,  the  synod  would,  by  a  formal  vote,  exclude  the 
accused  brethren.  And  this,  according  to  Mr.  Alison,  was 
actually  done.  Of  such  vote,  however,  there  is  no  record. 
The  minutes  merely  state,  "  A  protestation  was  brought 
in  by  Mr,  Cross,  read  and  signed  by  several  members, 
which  is  kept  in  retentis.  Upon  this  it  was  canvassed  by 
the  former  protesting  brethren,  whether  they  or  we  were 
to  be  looked  upon  as  the  synod.  We  maintained  that  they 
had  no  right  to  sit,  whether  they  were  the  major  or  minor 
number.  Then  they  motioned  we  should  examine  this 
point,  and  that  the  major  number  was  the  synod.  They 
were  found  to  be  the  minor  party,  and  upon  this  they  with- 
drew. After  this  the  synod  proceeded  to  business."  ^  This 
counting  of  the  roll  Mr.  Alison  seems  to  understand  as  a 
formal  vote.  But  it  was  clearly  no  such  thing.  There  was 
no  motion  and  no  vote,  but  an  irregular  mustering  of  par- 
ties; after  which  the  weaker  withdrew. 

It  is  probable  that  the  authors  of  the  protest  had  no 
fixed  plan  as  to  ulterior  measures;  that  they  meant  merely 
to  bring  the  controversy  to  a  point,  some  way  or  other. 
They,  therefore,  made  a  formal  declaration  of  their  com- 
plaints, and  an  avowal  of  their  purpose,  that  unless  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren  gave  them  satisfaction,  one  party 
or  the  other  must  leave  the  synod.  By  what  process  this 
separation  was  to  be  effected,  they  left  to  be  determined  by 
circumstances.  This  seems  to  be  implied  in  what  is  said 
by  the  authors  themselves.  "  After  reading  the  protest," 
they  say,  "the  rejected  members  offered  nothing  like  a 
pacific  overture,  or  a  satisfaction  for  said  grievances,  but 
instead  of  this  we  had  unchristian  reproaches.  This  brought 
the  affair  to  that  crisis  that  both  could  not  sit  together  in  one 
body,  but  one  of  them  must  withdraw,"  ^  and  the  counting 

1  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  75.        -  Refutation  of  Remarks,  &c.  p.  134. 


190  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

iJie  roll  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  determine  which  party- 
was  the  stronger. 

The  actual  course  which  matters  took  was  not  foreseen 
nor  provided  for.  As  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  brief 
and  contradictory  accounts  of  this  eventful  meeting,  which 
are  still  extant,  it  appears  that  the  reading  of  the  protest, 
avowing  as  it  did  a  fixed  determination  to  have  either  a 
redress  of  grievances,  or  a  separation,  produced  a  great 
excitement.  As  soon  as  the  paper  was  read,  it  was  laid  on 
the  table  for  the  signature  of  the  members.  This  threw  the 
assembly  into  disorder.  The  Brunswick  brethren  consider- 
ing the  signing  the  protest  as  of  itself  the  act  of  rejection, 
"  were  loathe  to  be  cast  out  hastily,  without  speaking  any 
thing  in  their  own  defence;  but  their  efforts  to  speak  were 
repulsed,  the  house  being  confused,  one  spoke  one  thing, 
and  another  another,  and  sometimes  two  or  more  at  once, 
so  that  it  is  hard  to  tell  what  was  said."  ^  Some  cried  out 
that  the  brethren  were  "solemnly  protesting  gross  lies 
before  Almighty  God;"  others,  that  the  "elders  were  sub- 
scribing what  they  had  never  heard  nor  considered."  ^  In 
the  midst  of  this  confusion  the  moderator  left  the  chair.  ^ 
As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  less  than  a  majority  of 
the  whole  synod  had  signed  the  protest,  "*  some  of  the  New 

1  Tennent's  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  p.  35. 

2  Refutation,  &c.  p.  134. 

3  At  what  stage  of  the  business  the  moderator  left  the  chair  is  not  stated, 
but  it  is  said  that  after  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  had  withdrawn,  he 
resumed  the  chair.  See  Appendix  to  the  printed  copy  of  the  Protest,  and 
also  p.  145,  of  the  Refutation,  See. 

4  Twelve  out  of  twenty-six  ministers,  and  eight  out  of  eighteen  elders 
signed  the  Protest,  so  that  the  signers  were  to  the  non-signers  as  twenty  to 
twenty-four.  There  were  nine  ministers  present  protested  against ;  twelve 
protesting  ministers,  and  five  who  were  between  the  two  parties.  It  was,  I 
presume,  mainly  to  ascertain  which  side  these  gentlemen  would  take  that 
the  roll  was  counted.     They  were  Messrs.  Andrews,  Gillespie,  Hucheson, 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  191 

Brunswick  brethren  demanded  that  as  the  protesters  were 
dissatisfied  they  should  withdraw,  and  the  galleries,  (for 
the  church  was  crowded,)  rang  with  the  call  to  cast  them 
out,  ^  for  this  purpose,  they,  (the  Brunswick  brethren,) 
counted  the  roll  to  see  if  they  had  a  majority;^  when  it 
appeared  that  they  were  the  minor  party,  they  withdrew, 
followed  by  a  great  crowd.  ^ 

It  is  plain  from  this  statement  that  not  even  the  forms  of 
an  ecclesiastical,  much  less  of  a  judicial  proceeding,  were 
observed  at  this  crisis.     There  was  no  motion,  no  vote,  not 

Elmer,  and  McHenry.  Mr.  Andrews  decided  at  once  as  to  the  part  he  would 
take,  and  said  openly  he  would  not  join  with  the  New  Brunswick  gentlemen, 
(Refutation,  p.  143,)  and  resumed  the  chair  in  the  synod  as  soon  as  they  had 
withdrawn.  Mr,  Gillespie  and  Mr.  Hucheson  hesitated,  and  were  at  first 
inclined  to  join  the  New  Brunswick  brethren.  The  latter  did  connect  him- 
self with  the  synod  of  New  York  in  1747.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  in  the 
struggle  for  the  ascendency  there  was  no  minister  who  appeared  decidedly 
for  Mr.  Tennent's  party,  unless  it  was  Mr.  Hucheson,  who  met  with  them 
the  nezt  day.  So  that  that  party  stood  nine,  or,  (including  Mr.  Hucheson,) 
ten,  to  twelve,  or,  (including  Mr.  Andrews,)  thirteen;  Messrs.  Gillespie  and 
McHenry,  it  is  said,  did  not  "  appear  for  them  at  the  time  when  it  was  now 
or  never  in  the  point  of  out  voting." — (Refutation,  p.  143.)  Of  Mr.  Elmer 
nothing  is  said ;  he  was  probably  absent  at  this  juncture. 

'  Refutation,  p.  145. 

2  This  fact  is  stated  substantially  in  the  minute  of  the  synod  quoted  above; 
it  is  explicitly  asserted  in  the  Appendix  to  the  printed  copy  of  the  Protest, 
and  repeatedly  in  the  Refutation  of  Mr.  Tennent's  Remarks.  Mr.  Tennent, 
however,  says,  the  thought  of  casting  the  protesters  out,  "  did  not  enter  into 
his  heart."  To  this  they  answered,  he  must  be  speaking  of  himself,  "  for  it 
is  certain  that  he  was  present  when  Mr.  Blair  and  several  other  members  of 
that  party  insisted,  that  since  we  had  protested,  it  was  our  part  to  withdraw, 
for  they  were  the  synod.  And  when  the  roll  was  counted  to  cast  them  out, 
he  tvas  as  active  as  his  brethren."  The  assumption  of  such  a  demand  having 
been  made,  seems  necessary  to  account  for  the  roll  being  counted.  The  pro- 
testers had  said,  the  New  Brunswick  gentlemen  must  satisfy  their  complaints 
or  leave  the  synod ;  to  which  it  was  answered,  we  are  the  majority,  there- 
fore you  must  withdraw,  and  then  the  roll  was  appealed  to,  to  decide  which 
party  should  go.  ^  Refutation,  p.  145. 


192  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

even  a  presiding  officer  in  the  chair.  It  was  a  disorderly 
rupture.  A  number  of  the  synod  rise  and  declare  they 
will  no  longer  sit  with  certain  of  their  brethren,  unless  they 
satisfied  their  complaints.  ^  The  members  complained  of, 
answer,  You  are  dissatisfied  and  are  the  minority,  therefore 
you  must  go  out;  and  then  a  confused  rush  is  made  to  the 
roll  to  see  which  was  the  stronger  party.  Such  was  the 
schism  of  1741. 

It  is  presumed  there  can  be  but  one  opinion  as  to  this 
whole  proceeding.  There  were  but  two  courses  which 
those  who  felt  aggrieved  by  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Tennent 
and  his  friends  could  properly  take.  The  one  was  to 
appeal  to  reason  and  the  word  of  God,  and  rely  on  those 
metins  to  correct  the  evils  of  which  they  complained.  It  is 
true,  this  would  at  that  time  have  been  like  talking  to  a 
whirlwind;  still,  when  the  storm  was  over,  truth  and  rea- 
son would  have  resumed  their  sway.  We  have  seen,  in 
our  day,  examples  here  and  there  of  ministers  who  have 
stood  a  much  more  vulgar,  if  not  more  violent  storm  of 
defamation,  combined  with  new  doctrines  and  new  mea- 
sures; their  people  carried  away,  their  congregations  broken 
up,  and  yet  these  same  men  rising  in  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  the  church,  and  ultimately  reaping  the  reward  of 
their  faith  and  patience.  This  course  would  have  required, 
at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  more  self-command  and 
self-denial,  than  can  be  expected  even  of  most  good  men. 
The  grievances  complained  of  were  real  and  weighty. 
These  opposing  brethren  were   seriously  injured  in  their 

1  "  It  is  evident,"  say  the  protesters,  "  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  Protest, 
especially  from  pages  seven  and  eight,  that  the  protesters  were  fully  deter- 
mined never  more  to  sit  with  these  brethren,  unless  they  gave  them  satisfac- 
tion in  the  points  complained  of;  but  were  determined,  with  as  many  as 
would  join  with  them,  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  synod,  and  tlie  Presbyt©. 
rian  church  in  these  parts." — Refutation,  &c.  p.  133. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  193 

reputation;  they  were  regarded  as  enemies  of  practical  reli- 
gion, as  formalists,  hypocrites,  or  bigots.  Their  comfort 
and  usefulness  were  for  the  time  being  destroyed.  ^  If  they 
found  themselves  unable  to  submit  to  these  grievances  in 
silence,  their  second  coarse  was  regularly  to  table  charges 
against  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery.  There  was  the 
less  reason  for  departing  from  this  course  as  there  was 
every  prospect  of  its  being  successful.  That  presbytery 
had  already  been  once  censured  for  its  irregular  conduct, 
by  a  vote  of  the  synod  sustained  by  a  great  majority.  As 
they  continued  their  irregular  course,  the  proper  method 
was  to  repeat  and  increase  the  censure.  As  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  there  were  not  more" than  nine  ministers  out  of 
forty,  who  approved  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Tennent  and  his 
friends.  ^  As  to  the  three  great  grounds  of  complaint,  dis- 
obedience to  the  decisions  of  synod,  his  rash  condemnation 
of  his  brethren  without  a  trial,  and  his  intrusion  into  settled 
congregations,  almost  all  his  brethren  were  against  him. 
This  has  been  abundantly  proved  in  the  preceding  pages. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  reasonable  doubt  that  on  all  these 
points  he  and  his  friends  would  have  been  condemned.  In 
Scotland,  in  consequence  of  the  union  between  the  church 
and  the  state,  it  has  been  found  a  difficult  matter  to  disci- 

1  Mr.  Tennent  answers  this  complaint  with  a  taunt  which  was  unworthy 
of  him.  "  As  to  their  comfort,  we  believe  them ;  but  respecting  their  success, 
wc  thought  it  had  been  the  same  as  formerly ;  for  trul}'  this  is  the  first  time 
that  ever  we  have  heard  of  the  success  of  most  of  them." — Refutation,  &c. 
p.  23. 

-  Indeed  the  four  Tennents,  Mr.  Blair,  and  Mr.  Wales  were  the  only  men 
of  any  weight  of  character  who  belonged  to  that  party.  Mr.  Creaghead  was 
violent  and  bigeted,  and  soon  left  the  church.  Mr.  Alexander  was  not  only 
very  disorderl}',  but  also,  to  say  the  least,  very  imprudent  in  his  conduct. 
Mr.  Cross  was  then  under  a  cloud,  and  was  soon  suspended  by  the  New 
Brunswick  presbytery. 

17 


194  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

pline  a  presbytery.  In  this  country  such  difficulty  does  not 
exist.  If  a  presbytery  persist  in  violating  the  constitution, 
it  may,  in  perfect  consistency  with  our  principles,  be  dis- 
owned, as  was  the  case  with  the  Cumberland  presbytery; 
or  dissolved,  and  its  members  attached  to  other  presbyteries. 
But  even  if  there  had  been  no  reasonable  prospect  of  suc- 
cess, this  would  afford  no  justification  of  the  aggrieved 
party  for  taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  When  men 
live  under  a  constitution,  either  in  church  or  state,  they  are 
bound  to  abide  by  it,  and  to  seek  redress  only  in  accordance 
with  its  provisions.  It  is  obvious  that  no  society,  civil  or 
ecclesiastical,  can  long  exist,  whose  members  assume  the 
prerogative  of  redressing  their  own  grievances.  In  this 
country,  more  than  in  most  others,  it  is  important  that  the 
great  duty  of  abiding  by  the  law,  should  be  graven  on  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

The  course  then,  adopted  by  the  protesting  brethren,  in 
1741,  is  certainly  liable  to  the  grave  objection,  that  it  was 
unconstitutional.  It  was,  moreover,  inoperative  as  to  the 
€vils  it  was  intended  to  repress.  The  invectives  under 
which  the  authors  of  the  protest  had  suffered,  were  only 
rendered  the  more  severe;  and  their  churches  were  more 
than  ever  open  to  the  intrusion  of  their  rejected  brethren. 
After  the  schism,  those  brethren  seem  to  have  thrown  off 
all  restraint  as  to  that  point,  and  to  have  established  sepa- 
rate congregations  wherever  the  opportunity  was  afforded. 
The  situation  of  the  protesters  was,  therefore,  in  no  respect 
improved  by  the  course  which  they  pursued;  on  the  cojq- 
trary,  it  was  worse  than  before.  They  now  suffered  the 
manifold  inconveniences  of  having  placed  themselves  in 
the  wrong.  The  large  and  respectable  presbytery  of  New 
Yoi^,  which  had  hitherto  sided  with  them,  after  trying  for 
-Several  years  to  effect  a  reconciliation,  seceded  from  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  195 

synod  and  formed  a  new  body.  This  threw  the  superiority 
as  to  numbers,  character,  and  influence,  on  the  other  side, 
and  was  a  lasting  injury  to  the  prosperity  and  usefulness  of 
the  old  synod.  From  that  time,  if  it  did  not  actually  de- 
cline, it  with  difficulty  held  its  ground,  while  the  other 
rapidly  increased. 

This  unfortunate  protest  continued  an  effectual  bar  to 
the  union  of  the  parties,  long  after  all  the  original  grounds 
of  difference  had  ceased  to  exist.  The  New  Brunswick 
brethren  resented  the  charges  contained  in  the  protest;  they 
denied  having  held  the  anarchical  principles  therein  imput- 
ed to  them.  Hence  no  union  was  ever  effected  until  the 
protest  was  disowned  as  a  synodical  act. 

The  day  after  the  rupture  in  the  synod,  that  is,  on  June 
2d,  1741,  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  held  a  pro  re 
nata  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  at  which  the  following  minis- 
ters were  present:  Messrs.  Gilbert  Tennent,  William  Ten- 
nent,  jun'r.  Eleazar  Wales,  and  John  Rowland,  together 
with  the  following  correspondents:  Messrs.  William  Ten- 
nent, sen'r.  Samuel  Blair,  Charles  Tennent,  David  Alex- 
ander, Alexander  Hucheson,  Alexander  Creaghead,  and 
Richard  Treat.  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  chosen  modera- 
tor, and  Mr.  John  Rowland,  clerk.  The  following  minute 
was  then  adopted: 

"  Whereas,  the  aforementioned  New  Brunswick  presby- 
tery and  correspondents  have  all  along  hitherto  been  in  a 
state  of  union  with  the  other  ministers  in  these  parts  of  the 
world  of  the  presbyterian  persuasion,  as  joint  members 
with  them  of  one  united  synod;  and,  whereas,  the  greater 
part  of  the  other  members  of  said  synod  with  us  in  synod 
met,  did  yesterday,  without  any  just  ground,  protest  against 
our  continuing  members  with  them  any  longer,  and  so  cast 


196  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

US  out  of  their  communion,  the  presbytery  and  correspon- 
dents thus  turned  off  and  protested  against,  first  came  toge- 
ther to  consider  how  they  ought  to  conduct  themselves  in 
their  present  circumstances,  for  the  fulfiUing  the  work  com- 
mitted to  them  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  ministers  and 
ruhng  elders  in  his  house,  and  they  do  agree  to  declare 
that  the  aforesaid  protestation  of  their  brethren  against 
them,  is  most  unjust  and  sinful;  and  do  moreover  agree, 
that  it  is  their  bounden  duty  to  form  themselves  into  dis- 
tinct presbyteries  for  carrying  on  the  government  of  Christ's 
church,  and  do  accordingly  agree  and  appoint  that  Mr. 
William  Tennent,  sen'r.  and  Richard  Treat,  be  joined  to 
the  standing  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick;  and  that 
Messrs.  Samuel  Blair,  Alexander  Creaghead,  David  Alex- 
ander, and  Charles  Tennent,  be  a  distinct  presbytery,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  name  of  the  presbytery  of  Londonderry.  ^ 
Mr.  George  Gillespie,  though  not  present  now,  having 
declared  to  us  his  willingness  and  desire  of  joining  with  us, 
is  likewise  appointed  a  member  of  the  said  presbytery. 
Mr.  Hucheson  having  manifested  his  inclination  to  join 
with  the  presbytery,  but  desiring  further  time  for  considera- 
tion, his  desire  was  granted;  and  it  was  likewise  ordered, 
that  on  his  application  he  should  be  received  as  a  member 
thereof.  ^  Appointed  that  the  said  presbytery  of  London- 
derry meet  upon  the  30th  of  this  June,  at  Whiteclay  Creek, 
and  that  Mr.  Blair  open  the  presbytery  with  a  sermon.  It 
is  further  agreed  and  appointed  that  the  said  presbyteries 
of  New  Brunswick  and  Londonderry  do  meet  at  Philadel- 
phia on  the  second  Wednesday  of  August  next,  in  the  capa- 

•  Afterwards  called  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  so  that  there  were  two 
presbyteries  of  Newcastle  during  the  schism. 

2  As  mentioned  above,  both  Mr.  Gillespie  and  Mr.  Hucheson  concluded  to 
remain  with  the  old  synod,  the  former  permanently,  the  latter  until  1747. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  19T 

city  of  a  synod.  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  appointed  to 
open  synod  with  a  sermon."  ^ 

When  the  presbytery  met  in  the  afternoon,  they  received 
apphcations  for  suppHes  from  eighteen  or  twenty  different 
places,  many  of  which  were  already  provided  with  settled 
pastors,  and  almost  all  of  them  were  under  the  care  of  the 
existing  presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  Newcastle,  and  Done- 
gal. It  was,  however,  determined  to  send  preachers  to 
them  all,  as  far  as  it  could  be  done.  The  schism  was  thus 
effectually  carried  down  among  the  congregations,  and  ren- 
dered permanent. 

The  next  day  the  presbytery  entered  upon  their  minutes 
the  following  record : 

"Inasmuch  as  the  ministers  who  have  protested  against 
our  being  of  their  communion,  do  at  least  insinuate  false 
reflections  against  us,  endeavouring  to  make  people  suspect 
that  we  are  receding  from  presbyterian  principles,  for  the 
satisfaction  of  such  Christian  people  as  may  be  stumbled  at 
such  aspersions,  we  think  it  fit,  unanimously  to  declare, 
that  we  do  adhere  as  closely  and  fully  to  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory,  as  ever  the 
synod  of  Philadelphia  did,  in  any  of  their  public  acts  or 
agreements  about  them. 

"  Mr.  Blair  was  appointed  to  draw  up  an  account  of  the 
diflferences  in  our  synod  for  some  years  past,  which  have 
at  last  issued  in  this  separation,  against  the  time  of  our 
next  meeting,  that  it  may  be  prepared  for  the  public  if  need 
be.  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  appointed  to  write  an  answer 
to  the  protest  made  by  our  brethren,  wherein  things  are 
most  unjustly  represented."^ 

1  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  p.  21. 

2  Ibid.  p.  24.  The  work  assigned  in  the  above  minutes  to  Mr.  Blair,  was 
prepared  and  published  under  some  such  title  as  "  The  Declaration  of  the  con- 

17* 


198  PRESBrTERIAN    CHURCH 

Thus  was  commenced  a  schism  which  it  required  seven- 
teen years  of  uninterrupted  effort  to  heal.  Though  the 
separation  began  in  1741,  in  the  manner  above  narrated,  it 
was  not  fully  consummated  until  1745.  It  is,  therefore, 
necessary  to  detail  the  progress  of  events  in  connexion  with 
this  subject,  until  that  time. 

The  synod  met  in  1742,  and  chose  Mr.  Dickinson  mode- 
rator, and  Mr.  Alison  clerk.  There  were  present  twenty- 
four  clerical  members,  including  seven  from  the  presbytery 
of  New  York.  ^  On  motion  made  by  the  moderator,  it  was 
resolved,  "  That  the  synod  should  hold  a  conference  with 
the  New  Brunswick  brethren  that  they  rejected  last  year, 
in  order  to  accommodate  the  difference,  and  make  up  the 
unhappy  breach."  It  was  thereupon  agreed,  "that  Messrs. 
Dickinson,  Pemberton,  Pierson,  Cross,  Andrews,  Thomp- 
son, Cathcart,  David  Evans,  and  Alison,  meet  with  those 
brethren,  and  try  all  methods  consistent  with  gospel  truth, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  healing  the  said  breach."  ^  The 
next  morning  the  synod  resolved  itself  "  into  an  interlo- 
quitur  of  ministers  and  elders  to  manage  the  conference 
with  the  rejected  brethren,  who  were  allowed,  if  they  see 
cause,  to  bring  with  them  the  ministers  that  they  ordained, 
that  were  never  allowed  to  be  members  of  this  synod,  and 
all  their  respective  elders.    After  a  great  deal  of  time  spent 

joint  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  Newcastle."  It  is  referred  to  in 
Mr.  Blair's  answer  to  Mr.  Creaghead's  reasons  for  seceding  from  the  presby- 
terian  church,  and  is  largely  quoted  in  the  Detector  Detected,  which  was  a 
reply  by  Messrs.  Samuel  Finley  and  Robert  Smith,  to  the  charges  of  two 
seceder  ministers  against  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  for  loose  presbyte- 
rirmism. 

'  These  New  York  brethren  were  Messrs.  Dickinson,  Ebenezer  Pember- 
ton, John  Pierson,  John  Nutman,  Simon  Horton,  Silas  Leonard,  and  Azariah 
Horton. 

2  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  ii.  p.  76. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  199 

to  no  purpose,  the  interloquitur  found  that  all  attempts  for 
a  coalition  were  vain  and  fruitless,  and  therefore  it  is 
agreed  to  adjourn  until  three  o'clock,  P.  M.  Concluded 
with  prayer." 

In  the  afternoon  "  the  synod  entered  upon  the  affair  com- 
plained of  by  the  ejected  members,  and  the  question  put 
for  managing  the  said  affair  was,  Who  should  be  the  judges 
of  the  case?  The  ejected  members  would  submit  the  busi- 
ness to  the  consideration  of  none  as  judges,  but  such  as  had 
not  signed  the  protest  last  year;  and  the  protesting  brethren 
answered  to  the  point,  that  they,  with  the  members  that 
had  adhered  to  them  after  ejecting  said  members,  were  the 
synod,  and  acted  as  such  in  the  rejection;  and  in  so  doing 
they  only  cast  out  such  members  as  they  judged  had  ren- 
dered themselves  unworthy  of  membership,  by  openly 
maintaining  and  practising  things  subversive  of  their  con- 
stitution, and  therefore  would  not  be  called  to  an  account 
by  absent  members,  or  by  any  judicature  on  earth,  but 
were  willing  to  give  the  reasons  of  their  conduct  to  their 
absent  brethren  to  consider  or  review  it."  The  synod 
had,  the  next  morning,  another  interloquitur  meeting,  with- 
out coming  to  any  conclusion;  and  there  the  matter  rested 
for  that  year. 

The  following  protest  was  given  in  by  several  members: 
"To  the  Reverend  Synod  now  sitting  in  Philadelphia:  we 
the  subscribers,  in  our  own,  and  in  the  name  of  all  that 
shall  see  meet  to  join  with  us,  look  upon  ourselves  as 
obliged  in  the  most  public  manner  to  declare  our  opinion 
with  respect  to  the  division  made  in  our  synod  last  year  by 
a  protest  delivered  in  by  several  of  our  members. 

"  First.  We  delare  against  the  excluding  the  presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick,  and  their  adherents,  from  the  communion 
of  the  synod  by  a  protest,  without  giving  them  a  previous 


200  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

trial,  as  an  illegal  and  unprecedented  proceeding ;  contrary 
to  the  rules  of  the  gospel,  and  subversive  of  our  excellent 
constitution.  ^ 

"  Secondly.  We  declare  and  protest  against  the  conduct 
of  our  brethren,  the  last  year's  protesters,  in  refusing  to 
have  the  legality  of  their  said  protest  tried  by  the  present 
synod. 

"  Thirdly.  We  therefore  declare  and  protest,  that  those 
members  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery  and  their 
adherents,  that  were  excluded  by  the  last  year's  protest, 
are  to  be  owned  and  esteemed  as  members  of  this  synod, 
till  they  are  excluded  by  a  regular  and  impartial  process 
against  them,  according  to  the  methods  prescribed  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  practised  by  the  churches  of  the  presbyte- 
rian  persuasion. 

"  Fourthly.  We  protest  against  all  passages  in  any  pamph- 
lets, which  have  been  lately  published  in  these  parts,  which 
seem  to  reflect  upon  the  work  of  divine  power  and  grace, 
which  has  been  carrying  on,  in  so  wonderful  a  manner,  in 
many  of  our  congregations;  and  declare  to  all  the  world, 
that  we  look  upon  it  to  be  the  indispensable  duty  of  all  our 
ministers,  to  encourage  that  glorious  work,  with  their  most 
diligent  and  faithful  endeavours.  And  in  like  manner  we 
protest  and  declare  against  all  divisive  and  irregular  methods 
and  practices  by  which  the  peace  and  good  order  of  our 
churches  have  been  broken  in  upon. 

"  This  is  what  our  duty  to  God,  and  our  regard  to  the 

•  To  this  article  is  appended  a  contemporaneous  note,  in  the  handwriting 
of  Mr.  Andrews,  but  probably  made  by  Mr.  Alison,  to  the  following  effect : 
"This  is,  in  the  first  a.Tt\c\e,  protestatio  contra  factum ;  for  they  were  exclu- 
ded by  vote  of  synod,  if  they  refused  to  give  satisfaction  for  the  points  com- 
plained of,  and  upon  this  they  withdrew."  It  is  certainly  strange  that  there 
is  no  intimation  or  record  of  such  a  vote  on  the  minutes. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  201 

peace  and  prosperity  of  his  church,  oblige  us  to  protest  and 
declare;  and  we  desire  it  may  be  recorded  in  the  minutes 
of  the  synod  in  perpetuam  rei  memoriam.  Signed,  Jona- 
than Dickinson,  John  Pierson,  Ebenezer  Pemberton,  Simon 
Horton,  Daniel  Elmer,  Azariah  Horton,  ministers;  and 
Nathaniel  Hazard,  David  Whitehead,  Silas  Leonard,  Timo- 
thy Whitehead,  elders."  ^ 

To  this  protest,  Mr.  Alison  gave  the  following  answer. 
"  I,  the  subscriber,  do  hereby  desire  that  it  may  be  inserted 
on  the  synod's  minute  book,  that  I  judge  it  an  open  in- 
fringement of  the  rights  of  society,  and  particularly  of  our 
rights  as  presbyterians,  for  absent  members  to  pretend  to  a 
right  to  call  the  body  to  account,  and  judge  of  the  legality 
of  the  proceedings  in  acts,  resolutions,  and  conclusions, 
made  in  their  absence;  though  I  firmly  believe  it  is  the 
duty  of  such  a  body  to  submit  such  resolutions  and  conclu- 
sions to  a  review  by  the  next  synod.  And  though  I  look 
on  it  as  giving  up  some  of  our  rights,  yet  it  is  my  earnest 
desire,  and  what  I  insist  on,  that  the  merits  of  the  cause  for 
which  the  last  year's  synod  rejected  the  New  Brunswick 
brethren  and  their  adherents,  be  fairly  tried  by  this  present 
synod,  in  order  to  manifest  the  justice  of  the  said  proceed- 
ings.    Francis  Alison."  ^ 

Had  a  conciliatory  spirit  prevailed  in  either  of  the  con- 
tending parties,  a  reconciliation  might  probably  have  been 
effected,  under  the  mediation  of  these  New  York  brethren. 
They  were  in  a  proper  position  to  act  as  mediators.  They 
had  not  been  involved  in  the  dispute.  They  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  both  parties.  While  they  complained  of  the 
irregular  mode  of  exclusion,  they  recognised  the  right  to 
exclude,  and  ])rotested  against  the  disorderly  course  which 
the  New  Brunswick  brethren  had  pursued.     It  may  well 

1  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  pp.  77,  78.  2  jbid.  p.  78. 


202  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

be  doubted,  however,  whether  the  method  which  these 
gentlemen  adopted  on  this  occasion,  was  judicious.  It 
seems  they  demanded  that  the  legahty  of  the  protest  should 
be  tried,  and  that  this  question  should  be  decided  by  them- 
selves and  the  few  members  present,  who  had  neither  pro- 
tested, nor  been  protested  against.  Whatever  view  be 
taken  of  the  protest,  this  course  seems  fairly  liable  to  the 
objection  so  warmly  urged  by  Dr.  Alison.  If  the  protes- 
ters had  assumed  the  attitude  of  accusers,  the  New  Bruns- 
wick brethren  been  regarded  as  accused,  and  the  four 
remaining  members  of  the  synod  the  judges,  by  whose 
decision  the  rejected  members  were  excluded,  it  would  cer- 
tainly be  incompetent  for  absent  members  to  re-open  the 
case,  and  give  a  new  trial.  The  only  proper  method 
would  have  been,  for  the  synod,  as  then  constituted,  to 
remove  the  sentence,  as  in  any  other  case  of  ecclesiastical 
censure.  No  one  pretended,  however,  that  the  course  just 
stated  was  the  one  actually  pursued.  The  New  Bruns- 
wick brethren  were  not  arraigned  and  tried;  much  less 
were  they  excluded  by  the  four  non-protesting  members. 
Of  those  four  Mr.  Andrews  was  the  only  one  who  deci- 
dedly took  part  against  them.  The  others,  viz:  Messrs. 
Gillespie,  Hucheson,  and  McHenry,*  all  disapproved  of  the 
protest,  and  of  the  rupture. 

The  view  which  Mr.  Alison  took  of  the  matter  was  this. 
He  regarded  the  protest  as  a  solemn  demand  upon  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren  for  satisfaction,  which  they  re- 
fused to  give.  Whereupon  the  synod  by  a  formal  vote 
cast  them  out.  Had  this  been  the  real  history  of  the  case, 
the  proper  course  would  have  been  to  move  the  reconsi- 
deration of  that  vote.     This  would  have  brought  up  the 

'  Mr.  McHenry's  disapprobation  of  the  protest,  is  stated  by  Mr.  Tennent 
in  his  Remarks,  Slc.  p.  34. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  203 

whole  merits  of  the  case;  which  Mr.  Ahson  did  not  object 
to,  and  could  not,  therefore,  have  opposed.  The  history  of 
the  session  of  the  1st  June,  1741,  shows,  however,  that  this 
view  of  the  case  is  no  more  consistent  with  the  facts  than 
the  one  before  mentioned.  There  was  no  motion  to  ex- 
clude, and  of  course  no  vote  upon  such  a  motion.  The 
counting  of  the  roll,  which  Mr.  Alison  seems  to  have 
regarded  as  taking  the  vote,  was  not  done  to  decide  any 
motion,  nor  was  it  done,  to  all  appearance,  while  the 
moderator  was  in  the  chair.  ^ 

The  only  proper  view  of  the  matter,  seems  to  have  been 
that  taken  by  the  New  York  brethren,  viz:  that  the  rupture 
was  altogether  violent  and  irregular.  There  was  no  trial, 
and  no  vote.  The  protest  threw  the  synod  into  utter  con- 
fusion, and  the  weaker  party,  as  soon  as  it  ascertained 
itself  to  be  the  weaker,  left  the  house.  If  this  is  a  correct 
account  of  the  matter,  as  the  withdrawing  was  not  a  volun- 
tary secession,  nor  the  exclusion  a  regular  synodical  act, 
it  might  have  been  treated  as  a  nullity.  The  right  of  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren  to  their  seats  remained  unim- 
paired; and  when  they  appeared  at  the  next  meeting  of 
the  synod,  the  regular  course  was,  to  move  that  their  names 
be  added  to  the  roll.  This  again  would  have  brought  up 
the  merits  of  the  question,  and  led  to  a  formal  decision  one 
way  or  the  other.  ^     Whatever  view,  therefore,  be  taken  of 

'  Mr.  Alison  himself  frequently  says,  that  the  roll  was  counted  on  the 
demand  of  the  New  Brunswick  gentlemen,  and  with  a  view  to  cast  the  pro- 
testers out.  If  this  is  so,  then  it  certainly  was  not  a  vote  to  cast  the  other 
party  out.  The  decision  must  have  been  yea  or  nay ;  the  protesters  go,  or 
the  protesters  remain.  This,  of  course,  would  decide  nothing  directly  as  to 
the  New  Brunswick  brethren. 

2  Had  this  course  been  pursued,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  New  Bruns- 
wick gentlemen  would  have  been  recognised  as  members.  Four  of  the 
Bigners  of  the  protest  were  absent;  and  seven  New  York  members,  who  were 


204  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  proceedings  leading  to  the  schism,  the  demand  that  the 
legaUty  of  the  protest  should  be  tried,  and  its  signers  exclu- 
ded from  voting,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  proper 
method  to  heal  the  breach. 

The  synod  met  in  1743,  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon 
by  President  Dickinson.  There  were  present  twenty-three 
clerical  members,  including  five  from  the  presbytery  of 
New  York.  Mr.  David  Cowell  was  chosen  moderator,  and 
Mr.  Alison  clerk.  On  the  sixth  day  of  the  sessions,  an 
overture  was  presented  to  the  synod  from  the  presbytery  of 
New  York  to  the  following  eflect.  After  lamenting  the 
existing  division  in  the  church  as  dishonorable  to  God, 
scandalous  to  religion,  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
body,  and  favourable  to  the  spread  of  dangerous  errors  and 
delusions,  they  proposed,  1.  That  as  the  exclusion  of  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren,  by  a  protest,  without  a  distinct 
vote  of  the  synod  founded  on  a  hearing  of  their  case  was 
irregular,  the  protest  be  withdrawn,  and  those  members  be 
allowed  to  take  their  seats.  2.  As  it  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  that  the  education  of  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try be  properly  managed,  they  proposed  that  all  future 
candidates  should  submit  to  the  rule  of  synod  relating  to 
examinations,  or  else  graduate  as  bachelors  of  arts  in  one 
of  the  New  England  colleges.  3.  With  regard  to  itinerant 
preaching,  they  proposed  that  every  pulpit  should  be  consi- 
dered open  to  all  the  regular  ministers  of  the  church,  and 
that  it  should  be  considered  unbrotherly  for  one  minister  to 
refuse  his  pulpit  to  another,  unless  for  a  reason  which  shall 
be  approved  by  the  presbytery,  synod,  or  the  commission; 
and  that  no  divisions  of  the  congregations,  separate  meet- 
ings, or  attempts  to  alienate  the  hearts  of  the  people  from 

absent  the  year  before,  were  now  present.  This  might  have  turned  the 
scales. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  205 

their  pastors,  should  hereafter  be  allowed,  and  that  every 
contravention  of  this  article  be  looked  npon  as  just  ground 
of  censure  either  by  the  presbytery  or  synod,  4.  That  if 
any  minister  thinks  he  has  any  ground  of  complaint  against 
any  of  his  brethren,  either  for  doctrine,  manner  of  preach- 
ing, or  conduct,  he  shall  first  present  his  complaints  in  a 
private  way,  and  if  this  method  fail,  he  shall  make  regular 
charges,  and  bring  the  matter  before  the  presbytery,  synod, 
or  commission.  5.  That  all  past  differences  be  buried  in 
oblivion.  6.  Considering  the  absolute  necessity  of  union, 
they  pray  that  this,  or  some  other  plan  of  union  should  be 
at  once  adopted ;  but  if  this  could  not  be  done,  they  pro- 
pose that  a  new  synod  be  formed,  and  the  several  members 
have  liberty  to  join  either  at  pleasure,  and  that  these  synods 
should  send  two  correspondents  each  year,  the  one  to  the 
other.  ^ 

As  the  principal  grounds  of  complaint  against  the  ejected 
members  were  disregarding  the  rule  of  synod  relating  to 
the  examination  of  candidates,  intruding  into  the  congrega- 
tions of  settled  ministers  and  causing  divisions  among  their 
people,  and  the  condemnation  of  their  brethren  without 
trial,  there  is  little  doubt,  that  had  these  proposals  been 
made  before  the  schism  they  would  have  been  gladly 
acceded  to;  as  it  was,  however,  strange  to  say,  they  were 
unanimously  rejected.  ^     It  may  serve  to  account  for  the 

>  Minutes  of  synod,  pp.  81,  82. 

2  "Some  remarks,"  it  is  recorded,  "upon  the  above  overture  were  read, 
and  after  some  consideration,  it  was  put  to  vote  whether  this  be  accepted  as 
a  plan  of  accommodation  or  not,  and  it  was  unanimously  voted  in  the  nega- 
tive."— Minutes,  p.  83.  There  were  present  at  this  meeting  of  the  synod, 
besides  the  five  brethren  from  the  presbytery  of  New  York,  Messrs.  Robert 
Cathcart,  Francis  Alison,  Robert  Jamison,  John  Thompson,  Adam  Boyd, 
Samuel  IJlack,  John  Elder,  Richard  Sanckcy,  Samuel  Cavin,  Alexander 
McDowell,  Hamilton  Bell,  John  Hindman,  Jedediah  Andrews,  Robert  Cross, 

18 


206  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

decided  rejection  of  propositions  apparently  so  reasonable, 
if  it  is  remembered  that  the  schism  did  not  put  a  stop  to 
the  evils  by  which  it  was  occasioned.  Mr.  Tennent's 
denunciations  of  his  brethren  were  at  this  time  more  bitter 
than  ever,  *  and  divisions  in  congregations  were  now  foster- 
ed without  any  restraint.  It  is,  therefore,  probable  that  the 
synod  thought  there  was  little  probability  that  these  propo- 
sals, emanating  from  the  New  York,  and  not  from  the  New 
Brunswick  brethren,  would  be  adhered  to.  They  insisted, 
therefore,  that  there  should  be  a  distinct  acknowledgment 
made  by  these  last  mentioned  brethren,  that  the  course 
they  had  hitherto  pursued  was  wrong.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed that  it  was  very  unlikely  that  Mr.  Tennent  and  his 
friends  would  have  acceded  to  the  terms  proposed  in  the 
above  overture.  So  far  from  opening  their  pulpits  to  all 
their  brethren,  there  were  some  of  them,  and  those  very 
good  men  too,  with  whom  some  of  their  number  would 
not  even  commune.  And  as  to  the  separate  meetings 
which  had  already  been  set  up  in  many  congregations, 
Mr.  Tennent  says,  he  and  his  friends  must  have  "bowels 
of  adamant"  to  refuse  to  take  them  under  their  care.  There 
were,  therefore,  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  union, 
which  the  New  York  brethren,  living  most  of  them  in  East 
Jersey,  remote  from  the  scene  of  conflict,  could  not  so  well 
appreciate. 

The  reasons  assigned  by  the  synod  for  rejecting  the  over- 
ture above  mentioned,  are  contained  in  a  paper  recorded  in 
the  minutes  for  the  following  year.  ^  On  the  first  article 
of  the  overture  they  remark,  that  they  still  think  that  the 

Daniel  Elmer,  Francis  McHenry,  and  Samuol  Evans.  How  many  of  these 
were  actually  present,  when  the  above  vote  was  taken,  does  not  appear. 

'  See  the  Examiner  Examined,  published  in  1743,  passim. 

2  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  iii.  p.  2. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  207 

exclusion  of  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  by  the  protesta- 
tion, is  sufficiently  justified  by  the  reasons  specified  there- 
in, which  reasons  are  further  strengthened  by  the  conduct 
of  the  said  brethren  ever  since;  and  therefore  they  say,  it  is 
altogether  inconsistent  with  duty  and  a  good  conscience  to 
withdraw  the  protest,  or  to  recede  from  it;  and  further,  that 
the  only  possible  expedient  in  order  to  a  re-union  is  for  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren  to  let  the  synod  know,  under 
their  own  hands,  how  far  they  can  or  will  comply,  to  give 
the  synod  satisfaction  for  the  offences  complained  of,  by 
acknowledging  their  past  misconduct,  and  by  giving  satis- 
factory security  against  the  fears  of  llie  like  offences  for  the 
future. 

On  the  second  article  they  say,  that  if  the  New  Bruns- 
wick brethren  would  once  give  satisfaction  for  their  disre- 
garding the  rule  about  the  examination  of  candidates,  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  that  matter  might  be  adjusted. 

On  article  third  they  remark,  that  in  their  judgment,  to 
open  their  pulpits  to  every  itinerant  preacher,  would  be  the 
very  way  to  promote  divisions;  that  it  would  be  better  to 
leave  the  matter  to  the  discretionary  agreement  of  the  minis- 
ters concerned;  and  that  no  preacher  should  travel  abroad 
for  preaching  sake  without  an  actual  order  from  his  own 
presbytery,  and  the  concurrence  of  the  presbytery  within 
the  bounds  of  which  he  was  to  preach.  As  to  separate 
meetings,  it  was  not  enough  that  they  should  not  be  en- 
couraged for  the  future;  all  proper  means  should  be  taken 
to  heal  the  divisions  already  occasioned. 

To  the  fourth  article  they  make  no  objection,  except 
that  complaints  against  ministers  ought  not,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  be  brought  before  the  synod,  but  the  presby- 
tery. 

The  fifth  article  they  also  approved  of,  on  the  supposi- 


208  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

tion  that  a  satisfactory  union  was  effected.  As  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  synod,  they  say,  that  as  it  would  be  to 
perpetuate  schism,  they  could  not  sanction  it  by  a  synodi- 
cal  act;  but  if,  contrary  to  their  judgment  and  inclination, 
the  New  York  brethren  should  determine  to  form  such  a 
body,  they  hoped  "  by  the  grace  of  God  to  cultivate  a  truly 
Christian  and  charitable  disposition  towards  them." 

When  the  synod  rejected  the  New  York  overture,  a 
paper  "  was  given  in  by  Mr.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  in  his 
own  name,  and  in  the  names  of  Messrs.  Ebenezer  Pember- 
ton,  John  Pierson,  and  Aaron  Burr,  having  previously 
declared  that  they  complained  of  no  unfriendly  or  unbro- 
therly  treatment  from  the  synod  in  relation  to  themselves, 
but  that  their  conduct  in  this  affair  may  be  liable  to  misre- 
presentations; which  said  paper  is  as  follows:  As  I  look 
on  myself  to  be  a  member  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia, 
and  have  a  continued  right  to  sit  and  act  in  the  same  as 
such,  so  I  look  upon  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  and 
those  brethren  that  adhere  to  them,  and  are  therefore  shut 
out  of  synod  on  that  account,  to  be  as  truly  members  of 
this  synod  as  myself,  or  any  others  whatsoever,  and  have  a 
just  claim  to  sit  and  act  with  us.  I  cannot,  therefore,  at 
present  see  my  way  clear  to  sit  and  act  as  though  we  were 
the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  while  the  New  Brunswick  pres- 
bytery, and  the  other  members  with  them,  are  kept  out  of 
the  synod  as  they  now  are."  ^ 

In  place  of  the  overture  from  New  York,  the  following 
plan  of  accommodation  was  sent  to  the  New  Brunswick 
gentlemen,  through  the  hands  of  Mr.  Aaron  Burr:  "Foras- 
much as  we  are  informed  that  the  New  Brunswick  breth- 
ren are  willing  and  desirous  of  reconciliation  and  union 
with  this  synod,  and  to  know  on  what  terms  this  may  be 

1  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  83. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES,  209 

obtained ;  that  the  said  brethren  may  be  fully  persuaded 
that  we  have  no  delight  in  division  for  its  own  sake,  but  on 
the  contrary,  are  sincerely  desirous  of  peace  and  union  on 
reasonable  terms,  so  that  on  our  cordial  agreement  there  be 
a  foundation  laid,  that,  through  God's  blessing,  may  pre- 
vent the  havock  and  destruction  of  the  church  threatened 
by  our  common  enemies.     Therefore  we  propose, 

"1.  That  as  they  desire  to  be  received  and  treated  as 
members  of  our  synod,  they  will  submit  to  the  determina- 
tions and  conclusions  of  our  judicatories,  even  in  those 
cases  wherein  they  are  negatives  in  giving  their  votes,  and 
so  allow  a  determination  to  be  by  a  majority,  or  else  no 
longer  plead  a  right  of  membership.  And  that  they  re- 
nounce their  principles  delivered  in  their  Apology,  espe- 
cially that  whereby  they  declare  that  presbyteries  and 
synods  have  no  power  to  make  any  agreements,  or  come 
to  any  determinations  by  votes,  which  shall  bind  any  mem- 
bers who  do  not  give  their  consent  to  those  conclusions  or 
determinations;  for  without  this  recantation  they  can  never 
be  members  of  this  synod,  seeing  they  put  in  a  claim  for 
arbitrary  power  to  destroy  and  overturn  all  our  agreements, 
and  to  despise  and  disregard  our  censures,  as  they  have 
already  professedly  done  in  licensing  and  ordaining  so 
many  men  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

"  2.  If  they  profess  they  will  use  all  endeavours  to  secure 
a  learned  ministry,  we  desire  that  they  will  testify  this  by 
desisting  from  licensing  or  ordaining  men  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry  who  have  not  complied  with  the  synod's 
agreement,  or  the  alternative  proposed  in  the  last  year's 
conference  with  these  brethren ;  and  that  they  give  up  all 
those  persons  that  they  have  heretofore  licensed  or  ordain- 
ed in  opposition  to  our  public  agreement,  to  be  examined 
and  tried  by  the  synod,  whether  they  have  suitable  minis- 

18* 


210  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

terial  qualifications,  or  that  they  will  not  maintain  ministe- 
rial communion  with  any  of  them  for  the  future,  who 
refuse  to  be  examined  by  the  synod,  or  who  upon  exami- 
nation are  found  deficient,  until  they  give  suitable  satis- 
faction. 

"  3.  That  for  the  future  they  will  desist  from  either  act- 
ing or  preaching,  or  sending  their  missionaries  into  the 
bounds  of  our  presbyteries  or  fixed  pastoral  charges  as 
heretofore.  That  they  will  not  encourage  new  separate 
societies  in  congregations  as  hitherto,  nor  supply  with 
preaching  the  societies  they  have  made  or  occasioned 
among  the  people  under  our  care,  but  declare  that  all  such 
practices  are  of  pernicious  tendency  and  inconsistent  with 
the  presbyterian  plan. 

"4.  That  they  will  not  publiely  nor  privately,  endeavour 
to  diminish  the  character  of  any  minister  as  graceless,  or 
unconverted,  or  unworthy  of  his  ofiice,  until  he  be  tried  by 
a  proper  judicature  and  censured;  and  that  they  claim  no 
right  to  judge  of  men's  spiritual  estate  toward  God,  so  as  to 
determine  whether  they  be  gracious  or  graceless,  if  sound 
in  the  faith,  and  of  a  gospel  life  and  conversation;  and  that 
they  condemn  all  such  practices. 

"  5.  That  they  renounce  all  such  tenets  or  doctrines  that 
have  been  advanced  in  Mr.  Tennent's  Nottingham  sermon, 
which  are  contrary  to  our  presbyterian  plan,  subversive  of 
gospel  order,  and  a  floodgate  to  let  in  divisions  and  disor- 
ders into  the  churches ;  such  as  an  allowance  to  church 
members,  to  guess  at  the  spiritual  estate  of  their  pastors, 
and  upon  this  guess,  without  further  trial,  to  leave  them  as 
graceless  and  unconverted;  the  asserting  an  inward  call  to 
the  ministry,  in  opposition  and  contradiction  to  the  outward 
call  or  ordaining  to  the  gospel  ministry.  All  who  maintain 
them,  (i.  e.  the  above  doctrines,)  can  be  no  members  of  a 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  211 

presbyterian  society  or  church,  because  they  take  all  govern- 
ment out  of  the  hands  of  a  synod  or  presbytery,  and  give  it 
to  any  person  that  hath  ignorance  or  impudence  enough  to 
bring  God's  house  into  confusion. 

"  6.  That  they  acknowledge  that  too  many  of  them  have 
been  guilty  in  all  these  points,  and,  notwithstanding,  what- 
ever zeal  and  intention  to  promote  a  work  of  grace,  they 
might  have  been  influenced  by,  yet  now  they  are  con- 
vinced that  such  practices  have  had  a  dreadful  tendency  to 
promote  and  spread  the  divisions  and  confusions  which 
perplex  and  disturb  this  church. 

"  7.  We  propose  that  if  they  have  any  ground  of  corn- 
plaint  against  any  of  our  members,  with  respect  to  their 
doctrines,  conversation,  or  diligence  in  the  ministry,  they 
shall  be  welcome  to  table  the  charge  against  them  in  a 
proper  judicatory,  whether  they  comply  with  these  terms 
or  not;  and  that  if  they  satisfy  us  in  these  points,  and 
accept  their  seats  in  our  synod,  all  other  grounds  of  com- 
plaint shall  be  removed,  either  by  public  trial,  or  such 
other  method  as  they  and  we  in  conjunction  shall  deter- 
mine. And  we  declare  that  if  all  or  any  of  those  brethren 
accept  these  terms,  or  any  other,  that  they  and  we  can 
devise  or  agree  to,  that  will  lay  a  foundation  to  secure  these 
important  rights  of  society,  a  learned  and  pious  ministry, 
and  to  prevent  errors  and  divisions,  in  a  way  agreeable  to 
God's  word,  and  the  presbyterian  constitution,  we  are 
heartily  willing  to  receive  them.  And  we  desire  that  they 
may  give  us  their  answer  to  these  heads  as  soon  as  they 
can  conveniently."  ^ 

1  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  pp.  83,  84. — It  is  stated  in  the  minutes  that  the 
above  proposals  "  were  sent  in  an  extra-judicial  way  to  the  Brunswick  bre- 
thren, upon  reading  of  which  in  open  synod,  it  was  agreed,  that  these  pro- 
posals were  reasonable,  in  order  to  open  the  way  toward  an  accommodation 
and  interview  between  those  brethren  and  us." 


212  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

To  this  paper  the  following  answer  was  returned.  "  Upon 
a  paper  sent  to  us  from  the  ministers  that  protested  against 
us^  proposing  certain  terms  of  union;  this  conjunct  meeting 
of  the  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  Newcastle,  does 
judge  that  there  can  be  no  regular  methods  of  proceeding 
toward  the  compassing  a  stable  union  between  them  and 
us,  until  their  illegal  protest  be  withdrawn,  that  so  they  and 
we  may  both  stand  on  an  equal  footing  in  the  regular  trial 
of  the  differences  between  us;  that  their  paper  contains 
sundry  misrepresentations  and  unreasonable  demands;  and 
that  we  have  several  charges  against  them  to  be  satisfied 
in  before  we  could  come  into  a  settled  union  with  them."  ^ 

In  1744,  no  member  of  the  New  York  presbytery  ap- 
peared in  synod,  and  no  new  effort  was  made  to  heal  the 
schism.  In  1745,  Messrs.  Dickinson,  Pemberton,  and  Pier- 
son,  were  present  and  enrolled  as  members.  On  the  second 
day  of  the  sessions,  those  gentlemen,  "in  the  name  of  the 
presbytery  of  New  York,  and  by  a  commission  from  them, 
desired  the  synod  to  appoint  a  committee  to  try  whether  an 
overture  could  be  prepared,  removing  any  grounds  of  dis- 
satisfaction or  difference  between  them  and  the  synod." 
Whereupon  it  was  "  ordered  that  Messrs.  Andrews,  Cross, 
Alison,  Thompson,  Boyd,  Gillespie,  McDowell,  Samuel 
Evans,  and  the  moderator,  (Cathcart,)"  be  that  committee. 
As  this  committee  did  not  succeed  in  preparing  an  overture, 
the  whole  synod  was  resolved  into  a  committee  of  confe- 
rence. After  much  consultation,  Messrs.  Thompson,  Alison, 
Steel,  and  McDowell,  were  appointed  to  draw  up  a  plan  of 
union,  and  report  it  at  the  next  meeting.  The  following 
day  this  committee  accordingly  reported  their  plan.  Before 
it  was  read,  the  New  York  gentlemen  were  asked,  "  whom 
of  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  they  alleged  to  be  mem- 

•  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  ii.  p.  85. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  213 

bers,  whether  all  who  are  now  of  that  party,  or  only  such 
of  them  as  enjoyed  membership  before?  And  they  declared 
they  account  only  such  of  them  as  have  been  members 
and  had  their  seats,  to  be  now  members  and  no  others. 
The  overture  drawn  up  by  the  committee  was  twice  read 
and  this  vote  put — Whether  it  was  a  proper  plan  of  accom- 
modation to  propose?  and  it  was  voted  proper  to  propose 
it,  and  it  is  as  follows: 

"  1.  The  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  by  the  persuading  souls  to  embrace  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  on  gospel  terms,  and  by  preserving  peace, 
truth  and  good  order  in  the  churches,  ought  to  be  the  grand 
design  of  all  Christians,  and  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel 
in  particular.  But  to  our  great  concern  and  sorrow,  the 
disorderly  intrusions  into  the  pastoral  charges  of  ministers, 
and  surmises  that  were  raised  to  blacken  their  characters 
as  carnal  and  unconverted;  the  bold  violation  of  our  syno- 
dical  acts  and  regulations,  and  the  new  method  of  itinerant 
preaching,  where  there  is  a  stated  gospel  ministry,  have,  in 
a  great  measure,  marred  this  noble  design,  by  rending  the 
churches  of  Christ,  and  filling  the  minds  of  the  people  with 
uncharitable  thoughts  of  one  another.  To  check  these  evils, 
prevailing  by  means  of  some  claiming  to  themselves  a  pri- 
vilege under  pretence  of  extraordinaries,  to  trample  under 
foot  all  rights  of  mankind,  to  destroy  all  pastoral  relation, 
and  to  lay  aside,  at  least  for  a  season,  that  form  of  govern- 
ment and  discipline  that  was  practised  and  used  in  our 
churches ;  a  number  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  protested 
against  those  illegal  disorderly  practices  in  1741;  and  being 
wearied  out  with  fruitless  attempts  to  redress  these  delu- 
sive unscriptural  methods  of  proceeding,  determined  to 
withdraw  from  synodical  communion,  unless  those  who 
were   guilty   of  such    practices   gave    proper  satisfaction 


214  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

according  to  gospel  rules.  The  majority  of  the  synod  then 
present  made  this  protest  their  act,  ^  and  declared  that  those 
brethren  should  either  give  such  satisfaction  or  withdraw 
from  membership,  on  which  they  chose  to  withdraw. 

"  This  method  of  procedure  was  complained  of  next  year 
as  contrary  to  the  method  of  proceeding  in  our  churches, 
by  some  members  that  were  absent  when  this  separation 
was  made;  upon  which  it  was  proposed,  that  the  whole 
affair  should  be  reviewed  by  the  synod  then  met,  and  if 
any  thing  was  found  illegal  it  should  be  redressed.  But 
these  brethren  could  find  clearness  to  do  nothing  until  those 
disorderly  brethren  who  withdrew,  should  again  be  allowed 
to  take  their  seats  as  members,  which  the  majority  of  the 
synod  could  not  comply  with.  Upon  which  they  entered 
a  declaration  against  the  method  of  proceeding  the  year 
before.  At  our  next  synod  they  proposed  methods  for 
healing  the  breach  between  those  brethren  that  withdrew 
and  the  synod;  which  occasioned  the  synod  to  send  them 
proposals  of  peace,  which  they  rejected,  and  still  continued 
their  divisive  practices  of  counteracting  the  synod's  regu- 
lations, and  crumbling  of  congregations  to  pieces,  erecting 
altar  against  altar,  to  the  great  scandal  of  religion  and  the 
ruin  of  vital  piety.  Those  brethren  from  the  presbytery  of 
New  York,  who  were  dissatisfied  at  the  method  by  which 
that  party  stand  excluded,  having  on  this  occasion  laboured 
to  have  their  own  scruples  removed,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  have  peace  and  unity  restored  among  all  that  were  ever 
members  of  the  synod,  all  the  synod  now  met  heartily 
concur  with  them  in  this  noble  undertaking,  if  it  can  be 

'  The  narrative  given  above,  shows  how  this  statement  is  to  be  understood. 
The  protesters  and  their  friends  were  a  majority  of  the  synod,  but  the  pro- 
test was  not  adopted,  nor  were  the  Brunswick  brethren  excluded  by  any 
synodiced  act 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  215 

obtained  in  such  a  method  as  may  and  will  maintain  somid 
doctrine,  and  preserve  the  peace  and  good  order  of  tlie 
church. 

"  In  order  to  accompHsh  this,  these  brethren  proposed  it 
as  an  expedient  to  remove  their  scruples  and  heal  all  our 
divisions,  that  every  person  that  is  or  has  been  a  member, 
shall  now  voluntarily  subscribe  the  essential  agreements  on 
which  our  synod  formerly  was  established,  and  which  are 
the  general  approved  agreements  of  our  churches.  And  as 
we  think  that  a  subscription  of  these  articles  will  be  a 
renouncing  disorder  and  divisive  practice,  and  will,  when 
obtained,  lay  a  foundation  for  maintaining  peace,  truth,  and 
good  order,  which  was  what  was  desired  in  the  protest,  by 
which  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  stand  excluded;  we, 
therefore,  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  these  brethren, 
and  in  order  to  remove  all  scruples,  propose  that  all  that 
are  now  or  ever  have  been  members  of  this  synod,  shall 
subscribe  the  following  fundamental  articles  and  agree- 
ments, as  their  acts,  and  all  who  will  do  so  shall  be  mem- 
bers of  this  synod. 

"  1.  That  in  all  prudential  acts  for  the  regular  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  church  of  God  among  us,  every 
member  shall  either  actively  concur,  or  passively  submit  to 
and  not  counteract,  such  things  as  are  determined  by  the 
majority  as  being  founded  upon  God's  word;  or  if  any  do 
declare  that  they  have  not  freedom  of  conscience  to  com- 
ply, they  shall  withdraw,  and  no  more  be  acknowledged 
as  members  of  this  synod,  unless  they  afterwards  find  clear- 
ness,  and  so  return  and  comply. 

"2.  That  if  any  member  suppose  he  has  reason  of  com- 
plaint against  any  of  his  brethren  for  unsound  doctrine, 
irregularities  of  life,  or  unfaithfulness  in  his  pastoral  office, 
he  shall  proceed  in  a  Christian  way  according  to  the  rules 


216  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  God's  word,  and  our  known  methods  of  discipline,  and 
shall  not  in  public  or  private,  spread  his  surmises,  offences, 
or  scandals,  without  proceeding  as  aforesaid,  or  else  be 
accounted  guilty  of  unchristian  conduct,  and  liable  to  cen- 
sure. Accordingly  we  look  upon  such  practices  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  gospel,  and  of  pernicious  tendency  to  the  church 
of  Christ. 

"  3.  That  no  member  of  this  synod  shall  preach  in  the 
congregation  of  another  brother,  without  judicial  appoint- 
ment, or  being  invited  by  his  brother  to  preach  for  him, 
and  whoever  acts  contrary  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  unbro- 
therly  treatment  and  divisive  practice,  and  be  censured 
accordingly.  And  the  same  way,  no  presbytery  shall 
invade  the  charge  and  rights  of  other  presbyteries;  and  all 
erections  within  the  bounds  of  regulated  congregations  that 
have  been  or  shall  be  set  up  by  such  itinerant  preaching 
and  divisive  practices,  shall  be  deemed  contrary  to  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  this  church,  and  consequently 
shall  not  be  maintained  or  supported  by  any  member  be- 
longing to  us. 

"  4.  We  agree  that  none  who  have  not  heretofore  enjoy- 
ed membership  in  this  synod,  shall  be  admitted  thereto 
without  submitting  to  the  manner  of  admission  determined 
by  our  former  acts,  and  such  as  may  and  shall  be  provided 
in  that  case,  and  complying  with  these  general  articles  now 
agreed  upon.  And  all  such  as  upon  proper  trial  shall  be 
duly  qualified  with  respect  to  learning,  soundness  in  the 
faith,  and  a  gospel  conversation,  shall,  upon  agreeing  to 
these  articles,  and  submitting  to  our  method  of  church 
government,  be  cordially  admitted  to  synodical  commu- 
nion. 

"  5.  We  agree  that  each  member  of  this  synod  shall  keep 
a  day  of  public  and  solemn  fasting,  and  thereupon  confess 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  217 

and  bewail  the  prevailing  evils  of  infidelity,  profaneness, 
the  untenderness  and  barrenness  of  professors,  and  the 
decay  of  religion  in  general,  and  particularly  the  debates, 
divisive  practices,  uncharitable  censures,  and  unbrotherly 
treatment  that  have  torn  and  divided  the  church  of  Christ 
in  these  parts,  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  the  hurt  of  practi- 
cal piety,  the  offence  and  scandal  of  the  weak,  and  the 
hardening  the  wicked,  and  the  opening  the  mouths  of  the 
profane;  and  deprecate  the  divine  displeasure,  and  implore 
the  blessing  of  God  upon  this  and  all  other  proper  means 
for  the  advancement  of  pure  and  unde filed  religion,  and 
the  maintaining  and  propagating  the  great  truths  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  peace,  unity,  and  increase  of  this  infant 
church."  ^ 

The  New  York  brethren  immediately  refused  to  accede 
to  this  plan  of  union.  This  result  must  excite  surprise, 
when  it  is  remembered  how  nearly  identical  the  terms  here 
offered  are  with  those  which  those  brethren  had  previously 
proposed.  The  plan  happily  avoided  the  necessity  of  con- 
cession on  either  side,  by  placing  both  parties  on  the  same 
ground,  and  commencing  de  novo,  with  a  renewed  sub- 
scription of  their  original  principles  of  agreement.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  to  which  of  the  above  articles  exception 
could  have  been  taken.  Certainly  not  to  the  first,  for  that 
was  adopted  almost  verbatim  as  one  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  new  synod.  Not  to  the  second,  for  that 
was  borrowed  from  the  previous  proposals  made  by  the 
New  York  presbytery.  Not  to  the  former  part  of  the  third, 
for  the  right  of  a  minister  to  his  own  pulpit  could  hardly 
be  seriously  questioned.  It  is  probable  that  the  difficulty 
was  with  the  latter  part  of  the  third  article,  which  required 

•  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  iii.  p.  11,  18. 
19 


218  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

that  the  new  congregations  formed  by  separatists  from  the 
older  ones,  should  be  given  up.  This  was  a  real  difficulty, 
and  embarrassed  the  negotiations  for  a  union  at  a  much 
later  period.  These  congregations  had  now  been  formed 
for  some  years;  and  the  people  were  doubtless  unwilUng  to 
return  to  their  old  pastors.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
men  by  whose  influence  they  had  been  induced  to  sepa- 
rate, could  hardly  be  expected  to  give  them  up.  Some 
years  after  this,  when  Mr.  Tennent  was  earnestly  desirous 
of  a  re-union,  he  found  his  greatest  difficulty  with  these 
people,  and  wrote  his  Irenicum  principally  to  answer  their 
objections  and  allay  their  feelings.  Some  of  them  never 
would  come  in,  but  when,  after  a  schism  of  seventeen 
years,  the  two  synods  were  united,  left  the  church  and 
joined  the  Scotch  seceders. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  grounds  of  objection,  the 
New  York  brethren  immediately  rejected  the  plan  above 
mentioned,  and  proposed  that  "  it  be  mutually  agreed  that 
they  be  allowed,  with  the  consent  of  this  body,  to  erect 
another  synod,  under  the  name  of  the  synod  of  New  York." 
To  this  proposal  the  following  answer  was  returned  :  "  The 
unhappy  divisions  which  have  subsisted  among  us  for  some 
years,  cannot  but  deeply  affect  all  that  wish  the  welfare  of 
Zion;  and  it  particularly  affects  us  that  some  of  our  breth- 
ren of  New  York  do  not  at  present  see  their  way  clear  to 
continue  in  synod ical  communion  with  us.  And  though 
we  judge  that  they  have  no  just  ground  to  withdraw  from 
us,  yet  seeing  they  propose  to  erect  themselves  into  a  synod 
at  New  York,  and  now  desire  to  do  this  in  the  most  friend- 
ly manner  possible,  we  declare,  if  they  or  any  of  them  do 
so,  we  shall  endeavour  to  maintain  charitable  and  Christian 
affections  towards  them,  and  show  the  same  upon  all  occa- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  219 

sions,  by  such  correspondence  and  fellowship  as  we  shall 
think  duty,  and  consistent  with  a  good  conscience."  ^ 

The  schism  was  thus  consummated,  and  the  synod  of 
New  York  met  as  a  separate  and  independent  body,  at 
Elizabethtown,  September  19,  1745. 

The  above  narrative  will  disclose  the  real  causes  of  the 
schism.  It  was  not  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  doctrine  or 
discipline,  but  loss  of  confidence  and  alienation  of  feeling 
arising  from  the  different  views  entertained  of  the  revival 
which  then  prevailed.  The  same  causes,  which  at  this 
period  divided  the  churches  of  New  England,  rent  asunder 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Opposition  to  the  revival  was 
the  standing  charge  against  the  one  party,  and  was  the 
uniform  apology  for  the  denunciations,  intrusions,  sepa- 
rations, and  disobedience  to  the  synod,  which  formed  the 
grounds  of  complaint  against  the  other.  Was  this  oppo- 
sition to  the  revival  an  opposition  to  evangelical  religion, 
or  merely  to  extravagance  and  disorder?  On  the  part  of 
some  few  individuals,  it  is  to  be  feared  it  was  the  former; 
characteristically  and  generally  it  was  the  latter.  This 
appears,  in  the  first  place,  from  the  fact  that  the  oppo- 
sition did  not  commence  until  the  extravagances  and  dis- 
orders made  their  appearance.  This  change  of  sentiment 
is  made  a  matter  of  reproach  by  Mr.  Tennent.  "What  is 
the  reason,"  he  asks,  "  that  our  protesting  brethren  were  so 
full  in  favour  of  the  work  of  God  last  year,  in  their  speeches 
and  acknowledgments,  and  that  they  make  no  honourable 
mention  of  it  in  their  protest  this  year?  Has  a  little  space 
of  time  altered  the  nature  of  things?"  2  The  same  men  also 
who  were  most  active  in  their  opposition  to  the  revival, 
under  the  form  which  it  assumed   in  Pennsylvania,  ap- 

>  Minutes  of  synod,  vol.  iii.  p,  13.  2  Remarks  on  the  Protest,  p.  21. 


220  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

proved  and  rejoiced  in  all  they  saw  of  its  effects  in  Vir- 
ginia.^ 

In  the  second  place,  all  the  objections  urged  in  any  of 
the  writings  which  had  any  claim  to  represent  the  opinions 
of  the  party,  were  directed  against  what  was  really  objec- 
tionable. ^  In  1740,  there  was  a  paper  presented  to  the 
presbytery  of  Newcastle,  containing  complaints  against 
Mr.  Whitefield,  in  the  form  of  queries,  and  hence  called  the 
Querists.  It  consisted  principally  of  various  extracts  from 
Mr.  Whitefield's  writings,  which  were  deemed  objection- 
able. Its  authors,  for  example,  find  fault  with  him  for 
saying  that  man  at  his  creation  was  "  adorned  with  all  the 
perfections  of  the  Deity;"  that  the  believer  "  washes  away 
the  guilt  of  sin  by  the  tears  of  a  sincere  repentance,  joined 
with  faith  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  They  charged 
him  with  denying  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  running  into 
antinomianism  in  his  letter  against  the  book  called  the 
Whole  Duty  of  Man,  They  objected  to  his  saying  that 
men  were  baptised  "into  the  nature  of  the  Father,  the 
nature  of  the  Son,  and  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit;"  that 
the  believer  depends  on  "  the  righteousness  of  Christ  impu- 

•  This  fact  is  stated  particularly  in  reference  to  Mr.  Thompson,  by  Mr. 
Davies,  in  his  account  of  the  revival  in  Virginia,  republished  in  Gillies'  Col- 
lections. 

^  There  were  some  anonymous  pamphlets  published  during  this  period, 
which  gave  great  and  probably  just  offence.  One  is  particularly  mentioned, 
entitled  "  The  History  of  a  Wandering  Spirit,"  which  Mr.  Blair  calls  a 
"  scurrilous  lampoon."  It  was  attributed  to  Mr.  Samuel  Evans,  who,  how- 
ever, denied  being  its  author;  and  it  was  never  acknowledged  by  any  indi- 
vidual or  party.  Mr.  Tennent  says,  on  this  subject,  "  Seeing  that  piece  was 
anonymous,  and  was  never  owned  by  our  brethren  as  a  body,  it  cannot,  with- 
out manifest  injustice,  be  ascribed  to  them  as  such ;  nor  is  there  any  certain 
or  sufficient  proof,  that  ever  it  was  owned  or  approved  of  in  all  its  parts,  by 
any  one  of  them,  so  far  as  I  know." — Irenicum,  p.  120. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  221 

ted  to,  and  inherent  in  him."  They  were  offended  with 
his  claiming  immediate  inspiration  in  such  passages  as  the 
following:  "There  will  certainly  be  a  fulfilling  of  those 
things  which  God,  by  his  Spirit,  has  spoken  in  my  soul," 
and,  "There  are  many  promises  to  be  fulfilled  in  me." 
They  did  not  know  how  to  understand  his  saying,  "  Now 
know  I  that  I  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  impo- 
sition of  hands.  For  I  feel  it  as  much  as  Elisha  did,  when 
Elijah  dropped  his  mantle.  Nay  others  see  it  also."  They 
objected  also  to  his  saying  of  the  Quakers,  "  I  think  their 
notions  about  walking  and  being  led  by  the  Spirit  right 
and  good."  ^ 

Mr.  Thompson  specifies  the  things  of  which  he  and  his 

•  Mr.  Whitefield  soon  published  a  letter  in  reply  to  the  Querists,  in  which 
he  frankly  retracted,  or  satisfactorily  explained  most  of  the  passages  above 
cited. 

Mr.  Charles  Tennent  got  into  trouble  by  defending  some  of  the  expressions 
which  Mr.  Whitefield  afterwards  retracted. 

Mr.  Blair  published  a  severe  reply  to  the  Querists,  whose  publication  he 
ascribed  to  Mr.  Evans  of  Pencader.  The  true  reason,  he  says,  of  the  oppo- 
sition to  Mr.  Whitefield  was,  the  work  of  God  had  begun  to  prevail,  and  this 
by  all  means  must  be  put  a  stop  to,  and  the  former  quiet  be  restored,  though 
thousands  should  perish.  Dead,  secure  formalists,  who  know  nothing  of  the 
regenerating  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  of  lively  heart  exercises  in 
religion,  are  likely  to  lose  their  former  high  reputation  in  religion,  and 
groundless  confidence  in  the  goodness  of  their  own  state,  which  they  are  not 
content  to  part  with.  Especially  when  the  people  are  awakened,  they  cannot 
be  satisfied  with  the  sapless,  careless  ministers;  this  goes  hard  with  these 
nous  MINISTERS.  (So  printed.)  Thus  the  success  of  the  gospel  is  very  unwel- 
come to  many  of  its  professed  friends.  Moreover,  Mr.  Whitefield  speaks 
much  against  unexperienced,  blind,  and  unfaithful  ministers,  who  settle 
people  upon  the  lees  of  their  natural  and  fatal  security,  and  hereupon,  as  if 
their  own  consciences  secretly  told  them,  they  were  the  men,  or  that  their 
management  was  such,  that  they  would  surely  come  unJer  suspicion;  many 
are  exceedingly  vexed. — See  Consideration  of  the  Querists,  pp.  7,  8. 

19* 


222  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

friends  complained  in  the  advocates  of  the  revival.  1.  Their 
bold  and  uncharitable  condemnation  of  their  brethren  as 
graceless.  2.  Their  unwearied  industry  to  possess  the 
people  with  prejudices  against  their  pastors.  3.  Their 
irregular  intrusions  into  other  men's  charges.  4.  Their 
teaching  that  every  true  Christian  is  sure  of  his  own  con- 
version, and  that  no  adult  can  be  converted  without  under- 
going legal,  ungracious,  preparatory  convictions.  As  to  the 
effects  of  their  preaching  he  objected,  1.  To  the  crying  out 
during  worship,  to  the  falling  down,  and  convulsions  which 
were  encouraged  by  them.  ^  2.  To  the  despairing  terrors, 
which  flow  from  unbelief  3.  To  the  delusions  of  some  of 
their  followers;  as  that  they  had  seen  Christ,  or  a  great 
light,  during  their  devotions.  4.  To  the  censorious  spirit 
with  which  they  seem  to  be  immediately  affected.  "  It  is," 
he  adds,  "  a  downright  calumny  and  slander  to  allege  that 
we  prejudice  the  people  against  the  work  of  God,  because 
we  sometimes  declare  our  judgment  against  such  particu- 
lars as  these,  which  we  verily  are  persuaded  are  not  the 
work  of  God  either  in  ministers  or  people."  He  admits 
that  "  a  great  many  have  been  stirred  up  to  more  serious 
thoughts  about  their  souls'  concerns  than  ever  before,  which 
is  a  thing  truly  to  be  rejoiced  in;  and  many,  it  is  said,  are 
much  reformed  in  several  particulars  of  moral  practice, 
which  also,  is  just  matter  of  satisfaction."  ^ 

•  That  opposition  to  those  bodily  agitations  which  attended  the  revival, 
was  regarded  by  its  friends  as  a  ground  of  complaint  against  their  brethren, 
appears  from  many  passages  of  their  writings.  Thus,  Mr.  Blair  censures 
those  who  he  said  "lash  and  reproach  in  unlimited  terms,  as  the  mere  effects 
of  irrational  frights  or  delusive  joys,  all  crying  out  and  bodily  faintings,  when 
such  things  may  be,  and  in  numbers  have  been  the  effects  of  the  rational, 
spiritual,  strong  exercises  of  the  soul,  from  the  laws  of  the  union  between  the 
soul  and  the  body." — Works,  p.  288. 

2  Government  of  the  Church,  pp.  33,  34. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  223 

The  testimony  of  Mr.  Tennent,  as  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  opposition  of  his  brethren  to  the  revival,  will, 
doubtless,  be  regarded  by  many,  as  of  more  weight  than 
their  own  declarations.  He  then  testifies  distinctly,  that 
the  opposition  was  not  to  experimental  religion,  but  to  the 
extravagances  and  disorders  which  at  that  period  so  much 
prevailed.  "I  cannot  but  believe,"  he  says,  "that  reverend 
brethren  upon  both  sides  of  the  question,  had  sincere  and 
good  designs  in  the  different  parts  which  they  bore  in  the 
late  controversy.  While  some  were  earnestly  contending 
for  the  credit  of  the  late  extraordinary  religious  appear- 
ances, with  design  that  they  might  spread  far  and  wide; 
others  were  strenuously  contending  for  the  order  and  go- 
vernment of  Christ's  kingdom,  lest  they  should  suffer  and 
be  quite  unhinged  in  the  uncommon  situation  and  ferment 
that  obtained  among  the  churches.  But  though  the  things 
controverted,  considered  calmly  and  in  a  true  distinct  light 
were  small,  yet  the  heat  of  debate  about  them  run  very 
high.  This,  together  with  evil  surmisings,  severe  censur- 
ings,  and  rash  judgings  of  each  other,  encouraged  and 
inflamed  by  misrepresentations,  carried  to  and  from  by  the 
unwearied  industry  of  tale-bearers  and  tattlers,  who  are 
generally  busy  on  such  occasions,  increased  mutual  preju- 
dices and  suspicions  to  a  melancholy  crisis,  and  occasioned 
the  unhappy  rupture  of  the  church's  union,  which  has  sub- 
sisted among  us  for  some  years,"  ^ 

In  the  body  of  the  work  just  cited,  he  still  more  expli- 
citly denies  that  the  essentials  of  religion  were  involved  in 
the  controversy.  "What  is  it,"  he  asks,  "that  is  disputed? 
Is  it  the  necessity  of  conversion  to  God  in  order  to  salva- 
tion? No;  that  is  freely  acknowledged  on  both  sides  of  the 
question.     Is  it  the  nature  of  conversion  proposed  in  the 

•  Irenlcnm,  Preface,  p.  6. 


224  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Scriptures  and  in  our  excellent  Confession  of  Faith  agree- 
able thereto?  No;  for  that  is  likewise  acknowledged  by 
both  the  contending  parties.  Is  it  the  marks  and  signs  of 
conversion  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures?  No;  for  these  are 
also  confessed  by  persons  of  both  sides.  Is  it  the  reality  of 
those  instances  of  conversion  contained  in  the  Bible?  No; 
the  divine  authority  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  is  equally  as- 
serted by  both  parties  in  controversy.  Is  it  whether  some 
have  been  converted  in  the  successive  ages  of  the  Christian 
Church  from  the  apostles'  times  to  the  present  day;  and 
whether  some  have  not  been  converted  in  this  age,  and  in 
this  part  of  the  world,  and  whether  good  has  not  been 
done,  and  some  effectually  changed,  to  all  appearance, 
during  the  late  revival  of  religion?  No;  for  these  are  also 
acknowledged.  What  then  is  it  that  is  controverted?  Why 
our  opinion  respecting  the  religious  experiences  of  some  in 
the  late  times,  and  concerning  the  number  of  such.  It  has 
been  disputed  whether  those  experiences  were  of  a  saving 
kind,  and  whether  the  number  is  so  great  as  is  concluded 
by  some.  And  is  our  opinion  concerning  what  we  cannot 
certainly  know  a  great  matter,  think  ye?  Or,  are  we  infal- 
lible in  our  judgment  about  these  things  which  are  hidden 
from  the  view  of  mortals?  If  not,  why  is  all  this  heat  and 
flame  about  uncertainties?"  ^ 

Again,  "  I  must  in  justice  add  to  what  has  been  offered, 
that  the  reverend  brethren,  who  cast  us  out  of  synodical 
communion,  do  deny  the  charge  of  endeavouring  to  preju- 
dice the  people  against  the  power  and  grace  of  God  in 
the  conversion  of  sinners,  wherever  there  is  any  hopeful 
appearance  of  it.  Mr.  John  Thompson,  in  their  name,  ob- 
serves on  this  head  as  follows,  '  It  is  true,  there  are  some 
things  in  our  brethren's  conduct  which  we  cannot  but  con- 

1  Irenicum,  p.  84. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  225 

demn,  and  have  condemned  and  spoken  against  both  in 
private  and  public;  and  some  things  also  which  are  the  fre* 
quent  effects  of  their  preaching  on  many  of  their  hearers, 
which  we  cannot  esteem  of  as  highly  as  both  they  and 
their  admirers  do.'  Among  which  he  mentions  crying  out 
aloud  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  in  the  time  of  public 
worship,  and  others  falling  down  half  dead,  or  working 
like  persons  in  convulsion  fits.  And  in  another  paragraph, 
he  speaks  in  the  following  candid,  charitable  strain,  to  the 
honour  of  the  late  revival  of  religion,  and  to  the  honour  of 
the  ministers  he  opposed."  Mr.  Tennent  then  quotes  from 
Mr.  Thompson  the  passage  cited  above,  ^  and  several  others 
to  the  same  effect,^  and  adds,  "  Seeing  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Thompson  appeared  as  the  apologist  of  the  present  synod 
of  Philadelphia,  it  may  reasonably  be  presumed  that  he 
speaks  the  mind  at  least  of  the  majority  of  that  body;  and 
therefore  it  is  evident  from  the  aforesaid  passages,  that 
they  were  far  from  opposing,  (with  design,)  the  late  revival 
of  religion ;  that  on  the  contrary,  they  expressly  acknow- 
ledged it,  rejoiced  in  it,  and  prayed  for  its  increase;  yea,  in 
several  instances,  as  humbly  as  publicly  acknowledged 
their  own  imperfections  in  relation  to  the  present  debate. 

'  Page  222. 

2  Among  the  passages  quoted  by  Mr.  Tennent  are  the  following:  "How. 
ever,  we  rejoice  that  the  great  God,  who  rules  all  events  to  his  own  glory, 
and  the  good  of  his  church,  doth  make  the  gospel  preached  by  our  brethren, 
effectual  in  many  to  stir  them  up  to  a  more  serious  consideration  of  their 
souls'  concerns  tlian  ever  before.  I  also  hope  that  our  gracious  Lord  will 
give  us,  who  are  in  the  ministry,  grace  to  observe  and  obey  his  voice  by  his 
providence  to  us,  to  search  and  try  our  ways,  and  turn  again  unto  the  Lord." 
Again.  "  I  think  it  not  unlikely  that  God  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  hath  per= 
mitted  our  brethren,  who  appear  to  be  so  much  more  zealous  than  we  for 
carrying  on  the  work  of  conversion,  which  they  apprehend  is  wholly  neglect- 
ed by  us,  as  it  is  indeed  too  much,  to  be  instruments  in  the  Lord's  hands  to 
chastise  us  for  our  neglects  and  short  comings," 


228  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Do  not  the  aforesaid  passages  breathe  the  candid,  humble 
spirit  of  true  Christianity?  Why,  therefore,  is  the  string  of 
acknowledgments  so  much  harped  upon?  Pray,  have  we 
done  in  this  as  much  as  our  brethren?  or  are  we,  forsooth, 
absolutely  perfect  and  infallible,  even  in  a  time  of  tempta- 
tion and  debate?"^  In  several  other  passages  he  vindi- 
cates the  synod  from  the  charge  of  opposing  the  revival  of 
religion,  properly  so  called,  and  shows  that  their  opposition 
was  confined  to  the  extravagances  and  disorders  above 
specified.  ^ 

It  is,  indeed,  hard  to  believe  that  this  is  the  same  Mr. 
Tennent,  who,  a  few  years  before,  denounced  these  same 
brethren  as  the  enemies  of  all  religion,  as  men  willing  to 
resort  to  any  falsehood  or  calumny  to  cloak  their  "horrible 
wickedness  in  opposing  God's  work."  Mr.  Thompson  was 
frequently  specified  by  name  as  an  example  of  the  class  of 
unconverted  pharisee  preachers,  and  his  opposition  to  the 
work  of  God  ascribed  to  the  worst  motives.  What  makes 
this  case  the  more  remarkable,  and  the  more  instructive,  is, 
that  the  work  which  Mr.  Tennent,  in  1749,  could  see 
"  breathed  the  candid  and  humble  spirit  of  true  Christiani- 
ty," was  published  by  Mr.  Thompson  in  1741,  that  is,  dur- 
ing the  very  heat  of  the  debate.  It  contained  then,  all  the 
evidence  of  a  Christian  spirit  that  it  did  seven  years  after- 
wards. Yet  Mr.  Tennent  at  that  time  could  see  nothing 
good  either  in  it  or  its  author.  This,  though  a  striking,  is 
not  a  solitary  illustration  of  the  fact  that,  during  times  of 
religious  excitement,  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good  feelings 
even  of  true  Christians,  are  often  brought  into  vigorous 
exercise.  It  appears  then,  as  well  from  the  testimony  of 
the  men  themselves,  as  from  that  of  their  opponents,  that 
the  opposition  to  the  revival  of  which  so  much  complaint 

»  Irenicum,  p.  86.  2  Ibid.  pp.  120, 121,  122. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  227 

was  made,  was  an  opposition  to  the  extravagance  and  dis- 
order which  marked  its  course,  and  not  an  opposition  to 
evangelical  religion.  ^ 

With  regard  to  the  importance  of  learning  in  the  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel,  there  was  no  real  difference  of  opinion 
between  the  two  parties.  As  the  synod's  object  in  the  act 
about  the  examination  of  ministers,  was  to  secure  an  ade- 
quately learned  ministry,  and  as  Mr.  Tennent  opposed  that 
act,  he  brought  himself  under  the  suspicion  of  slighting  the 
importance  of  learning.  This  suspicion  was  increased  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  sometimes  allowed  himself  to 
speak  of  letter-learned  pharisees,  "  who  came  out,  no  doubt, 
after  they  had  been  the  usual  time  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel, 
and  according  to  the  acts,  canons,  and  traditions  of  the 
Jewish  church;" 2  by  the  avowal  of  his  determination 
to  oppose  the  design  of  the  synod  to  establish  a  public 
seminary;^  and  the  hasty  manner  in  which  his  presbytery 
sometimes  passed  over  the  trials  of  their  candidates. 

Mr.  Tennent's  opposition,  however,  to  the  synod's  act, 
requiring  a  college  diploma  of  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
did  not  arise  from  a  disregard  of  learning,  but  from  want 
of  confidence  in  the  existing  colleges.  ■*  The  same  motive 
influenced  him  in  his  opposition  to  the  plan  of  the  synod 
respecting  a  seminary.  It  was  not  to  learning,  but  to  a 
school  under  the  control  of  the  synod  that  he  objected.  In 
his  sermons  against  the  Moravians,  published  in  1742,  he 
insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  learning  in  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  with  all  his  characteristic  ardour.     "  In  order 

'  In  further  proof  of  this  point,  tlie  reader  is  referred  to  the  Plan  of  Union, 
unanimously  adopted  by  both  synods,  in  1758,  in  which  the  fullest  and  most 
explicit  testimony  is  given  to  the  truth  and  necessity  of  experimental  religion. 
See  the  conclusion  of  the  following  chapter. 

2  Nottingham  sermon,  p.  1.  ^  Minutes  of  the  synod,  vol.  iii. 

■»  This  is  expressed  in  his  Nottingham  sermon,  p.  11. 


228  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

to  preserve  ourselves  and  our  posterity,"  he  says,  "  from 
the  infection  of  error,  I  think  it  is  needful  to  use,  in  our 
proper  sphere,  all  suitable  means  to  obtain  a  godly,  learned, 
and  regular  ministry.  When  ignorant  novices  are  admit- 
ted into  the  ministerial  order,  they  are  apt  to  be  pufled  up, 
to  the  church's  great  prejudice,  as  well  as  their  own;  and 
to  spread  error,  when  they  know  it  not.  To  say  that  these 
qualifications  may  be  ordinarily  attained  without  human 
learning,  is  notoriously  enthusiastical  and  foolish.  In  short, 
either  human  learning  is  necessary,  or  there  must  be  inspi- 
ration to  supply  the  want  thereof"  The  efforts  which  he 
and  his  friends  made  to  establish  the  college  of  New  Jer- 
sey, show  that  he  fully  appreciated  the  importance  of  this 
subject. 

There  was  also  an  essential  agreement  between  the  two 
parties  on  points  of  doctrine.  This  is  proved  by  the  expli- 
cit testimony  of  Mr.  Tennent,  "  Upon  the  one  hand,"  he 
says,  "  the  nature  and  necessity  of  conversion  to  God,  as 
represented  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in  our  Confession  of 
Faith,  according  to  them,  were  acknowledged,  and  only 
the  opinion  of  some  concerning  the  reality  or  number  of 
some  late  instances  of  conversion,  (or  respecting  both  toge- 
ther,) disputed  and  contradicted-,  so  upon  the  other  hand, 
the  nature  and  necessity  of  order  and  government  in  the 
church  of  Christ,  as  they  are  represented  in  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  our  Directory,  according  to  them,  were  also 
acknowledged,  and  only  some  prudential  rules  and  acts, 
not  expressed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  or  our  Directory, 
for  worship  and  government,  disputed  and  opposed.  The 
substance  of  the  points  in  dispute  was  freely  acknowledged 
by  reverend  brethren  upon  both  sides  of  the  question,  viz. 
the  nature  and  necessity  of  conversion,  as  held  forth  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  in  our  Confession  of  Faith;  and  the  nature 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  229 

and  necessity  of  church  discipUne,  (in  all  essentials,)  as 
represented  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  in  our  Directory,  so 
that  the  controversy,  in  my  apprehension,  turns  entirely 
upon  circumstantials."  ^ 

A  more  important  evidence  is  to  be  found  in  the  "Decla- 
ration of  the  conjunct  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and 
Newcastle,"  issued  immediately  after  the  schism.  Those 
presbyteries  say:  "We  think  it  proper,  for  the  satisfaction 
of  all  concerning  us,  and  as  a  due  testimony  to  the  truth  of 
God,  to  declare  and  testify  to  the  world  our  principles  and 
sentiments  in  religion,  according  to  which  we  design, 
through  divine  grace,  ever  to  conduct  ourselves,  bolh  as 
Christians,  and  as  ministers,  and  as  ruling  elders. 

"  And  first,  as  to  the  doctrines  of  religion,  we  believe 
with  our  heart,  and  profess  and  maintain  with  our  lips,  the 
doctrines  summed  up  and  contained  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  composed  by  the 
reverend  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  as  the  truths 
of  God  revealed  and  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments;  and  do  receive,  acknowledge, 
and  declare,  the  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms  to 
be  the  confession  of  our  faith;  yet  so  as  that  no  part  of  the 
twenty-third  chapter  of  said  Confession  shall  be  so  construed 
as  to  allow  civil  magistrates,  as  such,  to  have  any  ecclesias- 
tical authority  in  synods,  or  church  judicatories,  much  less 
the  power  of  a  negative  voice  over  them  in  their  ecclesias- 
tical transactions;  nor  is  any  part  of  it  to  be  understood  as 
opposite  to  the  memorable  revolution  and  the  settlement  of 
the  crown  of  the  three  kingdoms  in  the  illustrious  house  of 
Hanover."^  Exceptio  probat  regidam.  The  exception 
here  made  to  certain  parts  of  the  twenty-third  chapter, 
proves  the  adoption  of  all  the  rest.     This  is  as  strict  an 

1  Irenicum,  preface,  p.  5.  ^  gee  the  Detector  Detected,  p.  125. 

20 


230  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

adoption  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  as  was  ever  made  by 
any  synod  in  our  church.  Besides  this  decisive  declara- 
tion, reference  might  be  made  to  the  fact,  that  during  all 
the  protracted  negotiations  for  a  union,  there  was  not  a 
word  said  about  doctrinal  differences.  Each  synod  spoke 
of  the  other  as  holding  the  same  system  of  doctrines. 

Though  there  was  this  substantial  agreement,  there  were 
several  points,  which,  while  the  excitement  lasted,  were 
matters  of  keen  dispute.  It  has  already  been  mentioned 
that  Mr.  Tennent  had  a  doctrinal  controversy  with  David 
Cowell,  a  New  England  gentleman,  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Trenton.  The  subject  of  dispute,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was,  whether  the  glory  of  God  or  the  happiness  of  the 
agent,  was  the  ultimate  ground  of  moral  obligation.  Mr. 
Tennent,  in  the  paper  presented  to  the  synod  in  1740, 
charged  his  brethren  with  holding  false  doctrine  on  this 
subject.  With  respect  to  this  charge,  it  may  be  remarked, 
1.  That  we  never  hear  of  it  again.  It  was  never  renewed, 
and  never  became  a  matter  of  discussion  between  the  two 
parties.  2.  That  the  charge,  as  far  as  it  bore  on  the  mem- 
bers of  the  synod  at  all,  bore  particularly  upon  the  com- 
mittee of  which  President  Dickinson  was  chairman,  and  of 
which  other  gentlemen  were  members,  who  are  known  to 
have  repudiated  the  doctrine  imputed  to  them.  3.  That  the 
synod,  by  an  unanimous  vote,  condemned  the  doctrine  that 
self-love  is  the  ultimate  foundation  of  moral  obligation. 
The  synod,  therefore,  are  clear  in  this  matter.  Mr.  Cowell 
is  the  only  member  to  whom  even  suspicion  can  attach  in 
relation  to  it. 

A  subject  much  disputed  at  this  time,  was  the  nature  of 
conviction.  Mr.  Thompson  published  a  sermon  under  the 
title,  "  The  Doctrine  of  Conviction  set  in  a  clear  light."  Of 
this  sermon  Mr.  Tennent,  in  1743,  expressed  himself  in 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  231 

very  severe  terms.     Speaking  of  his  brethren,  he  says, 
"They  Hkewise  opposed  God's  work,  by  their  false  and 
dangerous  Moravian  doctrine  about  conviction.     Witness 
Mr.  Thompson's  detestable  and  inconsistent  performance, 
entitled,  The  Doctrine  of  Conviction  set  in  a  clear  light; 
which  divers  leaders  of  that  schismatical  party  have  ex- 
pressed their  approbation  of.     Hardly  any  thing  can  be 
invented  that  has  a  more  direct  tendency  to  destroy  the 
common  operations  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  and  to  keep  men 
from  Jesus  Christ,  than  what  Mr.  Thompson  has  expressed 
in  that  performance."  ^     Mr.  Samuel  Finley  wrote  an  an- 
swer to  the  sermon,  in  which  he  condemns  it  in  terms 
scarcely  less  severe.  ^     Mr.  Thompson's  sermon  is  a  long 
and  excellent  discourse  on  1  Cor.  iii.  12,  13:  "  Now  if  any 
man   build   upon   this    foundation,  gold,   silver,  precious 
stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble,  &c."  in  which  the  author  exa- 
mined several  doctrines  then  prevalent.     The  first  of  these 
he  thus  states:  "Before  there  be  so  much  as  a  beginning 
of  any  saving  work  of  grace,  or  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
heart  of  the  sinner,  there  must  be  an  awakening  conviction 
of  sin  and  misery  raised  in  the  soul  in  a  way  of  common 
operation;  which  convictions  are  previously  necessary  to 
prepare  the  heart  for  saving  grace,  but  are  void  of  saving 
grace  themselves."^     Before  refuting  this  doctrine  he  pre- 
mises several  general  observations,  which  are  in  substance 
as  follows:  1.  That  when  the  Holy  Spirit  begins  a  super- 
natural work  in  the  heart,  he  does  not  implant  first  one 
grace  and  then  another;  but  that  true  grace  is  one  entire 
radical  principle,  the  seed  and  root  of  all  particular  graces; 
just  as  natural  life  manifests  itself  in   various  exercises. 

'  Examiner  Examined,  p.  17. 

2  Examination  and  Refutation  of  Mr.  Thompson's  sermon,  entitled,  &c. 
By  Samuel  Finley,  Philadelphia,  1743.  3  Sermon,  p.  13. 


232  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

2.  Consequently  when  any  one  grace  is  evident  in  its  exer- 
cises, all  other  graces  of  the  Spirit  are  to  be  found  in  the 
same   person,   though   they   may  not  be  so  conspicuous. 

3.  That  these  different  graces  are  not  so  distinct  as  we  are 
apt  to  imagine,  as  though  they  were  separate  entities,  which 
may  exist  independently  of  each  other;  whereas  they  differ 
only  in  their  object  and  in  the  manner  of  their  exercise,  yet 
are  the  same  principle  of  grace  putting  forth  its  various 
actings,  according  to  the  variety  of  occasions  and  objects. 

4.  That  although  we  properly  form  different  apprehensions 
of  these  several  graces,  yet  as  they  are  radically  one,  it  will 
be  found  that  no  one  can  be  alone  in  its  exercise  any  more 
than  in  its  existence. 

Having  prepared  the  way  by  these  remarks,  he  takes  up 
the  subject  of  "  preparatory  ungracious  convictions,"  with 
regard  to  whicii  he  concedes,  1.  That  there  are  common 
convictions  arising  from  natural  conscience,  or  a  common 
work  of  the  Spirit,  Avhich  often  fall  short  of  conversion. 
2.  That  such  convictions  may  be  followed  by  true  conver- 
sion; but  when  this  happens  the  conversion  is  not  the 
proper  effect  of  those  convictions.  3.  That  we  should  dis- 
tinguish between  those  convictions  which  are  common  and 
those  which  are  the  effect  of  saving  grace.  The  latter 
possess  the  soul  with  a  sense  of  the  vilcness,  baseness,  and 
hateful  nature  of  sin,  as  offensive  to  God;  but  the  former 
only  alarm  the  soul  with  the  danger  of  the  wrath  and  curse 
of  God.  Gracious  conviction  is  always  attended  with  grief 
for  sin,  on  account  of  its  own  sinfulness,  and  the  person's 
vileness  on  account  of  it,  who  loathes  himself,  and  reckons 
himself  among  the  basest  and  most  disgraceful  creatures 
upon  God's  earth;  whereas  in  common  convictions,  the 
hatred  conceived  against  sin  is  only  on  account  of  its  perni- 
cious consequences.     Saving  convictions,  again,  are  always 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  233 

accompanied  with  love  to  God,  to  holiness,  and  to  the 
saints.  Sin  becomes  a  burden  to  those  thus  convinced, 
under  which  they  groan.  In  common  convictions  there  is 
no  love  to  holiness  for  its  own  sake,  but  onlj''  for  its  reward. 
Again,  saving  conviction,  though  it  may  take  its  rise  from 
some  notorious  sin,  does  not  stop  there,  but  traces  up  all 
actual  sin  to  the  fountain  head,  the  indwelling  wickedness 
of  the  heart  and  corruption  of  nature;  whereas  common 
convictions  are  ordinarily  confined  to  actual  transgressions. 
The  former  continue  an  ingredient  in  the  believer's  exer- 
cises through  life  ;  the  latter,  for  the  most  part,  are  at  an  end 
as  soon  as  the  person  concerned  gets  hope  or  comfort  from 
any  source.  And  finally,  we  should  distinguish  between 
convictions,  whether  saving  or  common,  and  the  terror 
which  may  accompany  or  follow  them.  The  former  con- 
sists in  our  persuasion  of  our  sinful  and  miserable  state; 
the  latter  in  the  uneasy  impression  arising  from  the  appre- 
hension of  danger.  The  one  is  proportionate  to  the  light 
which  is  let  in  upon  our  real  character  and  condition;  the 
other  to  the  apparent  avoidableness  or  unavoidableness  of 
the  danger  to  which  we  feel  ourselves  exposed.  Hence 
though  the  conviction  may  be  strong,  the  terror  may  be 
slight.  These  fears  and  terrors  are  at  best  but  the  language 
of  unbelief,  and  consequently  are  in  their  nature  a  very 
great  sin.  To  believe  that  we  are  in  a  perishing  state  by 
nature,  and  that  we  certainly  shall  perish  if  we  continue 
in  that  state;  that  unless  we  repent  and  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  is,  cordially  accept  of  him  as  he  is  offered 
in  the  gospel,  and  to  be  suitably  affected  by  these  things 
according  to  their  nature,  do  certainly  belong  to  those  con- 
victions which  make  up  a  part  of  our  conversion;  but  to 
disbelieve  or  to  doubt  whether  mercy  is  in  our  offer,  or  that 
we  may  be  saved  on  gospel  terms,  is  unbelief,  and  is  con- 

20* 


234  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

trary  to  that  revelation  which  sets  death  and  hfe,  the  bless- 
ing and  the  curse  before  us  at  the  same  time. 

After  this  exposition  of  his  views,  he  shows  from  scrip- 
tural examples,  that  "these  preparatory,  ungracious  con- 
victions have  no  foundation,  as  to  their  necessity  in  order 
to  conversion;"  and  concludes  that,  "the  convictions  which 
are  necessary  to  conversion,  are  in  truth  a  part  of  the  work 
itself;  or,  to  speak  more  distinctly,  are  nothing  else  but  that 
very  principle  of  grace  implanted  in  and  by  conversion, 
putting  forth  itself  in  the  exercise  of  conviction  or  persua- 
sion of  the  person's  natural,  sinful,  and  miserable  state, 
according  to  the  word,  the  heart  and  conscience  bearing 
witness  thereunto." 

This  is  a  fair  exhibition  of  Mr.  Thompson's  views  of 
this  subject,  which  were  approved,  it  seems,  by  the  other 
leaders  of  his  party.  This  exhibition  is  here  given,  that  it 
may  be  seen  for  what  kind  of  doctrine  the  good  men  of 
that  day  denounced  each  other.  Mr.  Tennent  appeals  to 
this  "  detestable  performance,"  and  to  "  the  false  and  dan- 
gerous Moravian  doctrine,"  which  it  contained,  in  proof 
that  the  author  and  those  who  agreed  with  him,  not  only 
opposed  the  work  of  God,  but  were  themselves  graceless.  ^ 
Yet  these  good  men  did  not  really  differ  in  doctrine.  Mr. 
Thompson  admitted  that  there  were  convictions  resulting 
from  the  common  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
sometimes  were  and  sometimes  were  not  followed  by  true 
conversion.  He  only  maintained  that  they  were  not  neces- 
sary, and  that  those  which  are  essential,  are  themselves  the 
results  of  saving  grace.  Against  this  Mr.  Tennent  had  not 
a  word  to  say.  As  he  was  a  believer  in  instantaneous 
conversions,  he  could  not  believe  in  the  absolute  necessity 

'  He  refers  to  it  for  both  purposes;  compare  Examiner  Examined,  pp.  17 
and  87. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  235 

of  these  preparatory  convictions;  nor  could  he  well  main- 
tain that  any  exercises,  not  in  themselves  holy,  were  indis- 
pensable as  a  preparation  for  holiness.  The  only  difference 
between  the  parties  was,  that  the  one  laid  more  stress  upon 
this  "preliminary  law-work"  than  the  other  did.  Both 
admitted  that  it  often  occurred;  and  both  admitted  that  it 
was  not  indispensable. 

Another  subject  of  dispute  was,  the  call  to  the  gospel 
ministry.     Mr.  Tennent  in  his  Nottingham   sermon  had 
said  that,  "Natural  men  have  no  call  of  God  to  the  minis- 
terial work,  under  the  gospel  dispensation.     Is  it  not  a 
principal  part  of  the  ordinary  call  of  God  to  the  ministerial 
work,  to  aim  at  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  subordination 
thereto,  the  good  of  souls  as  the  chief  marks  in  their  under- 
taking that  work?  And  can  any  natural  man  on  earth  do 
this?  No!  No!  every  skin  of  them  has  an  evil  eye;  for  no 
cause  can  produce  effects  above  its  own  power.     Man  may 
put  them  into  the  ministry,  through  unfaithfulness  or  mis- 
take ;  or  credit  or  money  may  draw  them,  and  the  devil 
may  drive  them,  knowing  by  long  experience  what  special 
service  they  may  be  to  his  kingdom  in  that  office,  but  God 
sends  not  such  hypocritical  varlets."  ^     This  and  similar 
declarations  were  understood  to  teach,  that  though  a  man 
be  regularly,  after  due  trial  and  examination,  ordained  to 
the  sacred  office;  yet  if  he  is  unconverted,  he  has  not  the 
call  of  God,  but  only  that  of  man,  to  the  ministry.     Thus 
the  matter  is  stated  by  Mr.  Thompson  in  the  sermon  above 
quoted.     With  regard  to  this  point,  he  concedes,  1.  That 
true  grace  in  the  person  called,  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  faithful  and  acceptable  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the 
ministry.     2.  That  there  is  a  distinction  between  the  out- 
ward call  of  the  word,  and  the  inward  call  of  the  Spirit,  to 

'  Nottingham  Sermon,  p.  5. 


236  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

grace  and  salvation.  But  the  call  of  God  to  the  ministry 
is  an  authoritative  act  by  which  he  authorizes  and  com- 
mands the  person  called  to  enter  upon  the  sacred  office. 

3.  God  is  truly  and  properly  said  to  do  what  is  done  in 
virtue  of  any  order  or  institution  of  his,  and,  therefore, 

4.  That  when  a  person  is  orderly  set  apart  to  this  work,  by 
those  having  authority  from  Christ  for  that  purpose,  he  is 
properly  said  to  be  called  of  God  to  that  work,  whatever 
his  qualifications  may  be.  "  I  intreat  my  readers,"  he  adds, 
"  that  they  may  not  misunderstand  me,  as  if  I  would  plead 
for  an  unsanctified  ministry.  God  forbid  that  such  a  pro- 
fane, impious  thought  should  ever  be  harboured  in  my 
breast,  much  more  that  I  should  be  wicked  enough  to 
maintain  it  by  arguments.  Undoubtedly  it  is  the  indis- 
pensable duty  of  every  one  who  aspires  to  this  sacred  office, 
to  pray  and  labour  for  true  sanctifying  grace  and  all  other 
necessary  qualifications,  to  fit  him  for  the  work,  and  to 
propose  single  ends  and  views  to  himself  in  undertaking  it. 
And  it  is  no  less  the  duty  of  those,  whose  part  it  is  to  call 
and  ordain  men  to  that  work,  to  take  care  to  inquire  into 
the  saving  grace,  as  well  as  the  other  qualifications  in  the 
persons  to  be  ordained;  and  the  neglect  of  either  is  a  hei- 
nous sin,  and  of  a  dreadful  tendency,  as  no  doubt  a  grace- 
less ministry  is  an  awful  plague  and  scourge  to  any  people." 
What  he  contended  for  was,  1.  That  the  qualifications  for 
the  sacred  office,  and  the  call  to  enter  upon  it,  should  not  be 
confounded;  for  "if  the  inward  gracious  qualifications  con- 
stitute the  call  of  God,  then  all  who  have  the  qualifications 
are  called  to  the  ministry."  2.  That  the  claim  of  those 
who  were  regularly  ordained  to  be  regarded  as  true  minis- 
ters should  not  be  denied. 

To  all  this  Mr.  Tennent  replied,  that  his  Nottingham 
sermon  was  founded  on  the  assumption,  that  there  "  is  a 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  23T 

two-fold  call  to  the  ministry,  inward  and  outward.     The 
first  consisting  principally  in,  or  rather  was  evidenced  by, 
the  pious  dispositions  and  aims  of  the   person;   and  the 
other  in  his  regular  external  separation  to  the  ministerial 
work."  1     He  adds,  "  When  I  said  pharisee  or  unconverted 
ministers  are  no  shepherds,  (no  faithful  ones,)  in  Christ's 
account,  it  is  plainly  intimated  that  I  owned  them  to  be 
ministers,  true  and  lawful  ones,  in  the  sight  of  the  church, 
but  not  faithful  ones  in  the  account  of  Christ."  ^     Iq  ano- 
ther place  he  says,  "  Whether  those  inward  pious  dispo- 
sitions be  termed  the  inward  call  of  God  to  the  gospel 
ministry;  or  only  qualifications  necessary  or  pre-requisite 
in  the  persons  whom  God  calls;  it  seems  to  be  the  same  in 
substance."  ^     He  denies  that  he  confounded  the  outward 
and  inward   call,  or  ever  "thought  that  any  person  by 
reason  of  his  good  dispositions  and  aims,  had  commission 
or  authority  to  exercise  the  ministerial  office."  ■*     He  suc- 
cessfully vindicates   the   propriety  of  calling  these  pious 
desires  the  evidence  of  an  inward  call,  by  an  appeal  to  the 
usage  of  the  church.     "This,"  he  says,  "is  the  opinion 
of  the  whole  church  of  Scotland,   as  appears   from  her 
Directory,  which  they  and  we  have  adopted  as  the  standard 
of  our  proceedings  and  sentiments  respecting  the  affairs  of 
church  government."     He  then  quotes  from  the  ordination 
service  a   distinct  recognition  of  the   inward  call.  ^     He 
appeals  also  to  the  Church  of  England,  which  asks  every 
candidate  for  orders:  "  Do  you  trust  that  you  are  inwardly 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  take  upon  you  this  office  and 
ministration?"  There  was,  therefore,  no  real  diff"erence  of 
opinion  on  this  subject  between  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  oppo- 

'  Examiner  Examined,  p,  10. 

2  Ibid.  p.  12.  3  Remarks  on  the  Protest 

•»  Examiner  Examined,  p.  12.  5  Jbid.  p.  15. 


238  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

nents.  He  erred  in  the  violent  and  sweeping  language  of 
his  sermon,  which  seemed  to  imply  that  an  unconverted 
minister  is  no  minister  at  all;  and  they  erred  in  restricting 
the  word  call  to  an  authoritative  act  giving  a  right  to  exer- 
cise the  office  of  the  ministry. 

A  third  subject  of  discussion  was  the  doctrine  of  assu- 
rance. Mr.  Tennent  complained  that  his  brethren  had 
done  great  harm  by  teaching,  "that  persons  might  have 
grace  and  not  know  it."  ^  He,  at  times,  went  to  the  oppo- 
site extreme.  Mr.  Thompson  says,  "  I  myself  have  heard 
Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent,  with  great  vehemency,  assert  to  a 
great  congregation  that  every  truly  gracious  person,  or  true 
convert,  is  as  sensible  of  the  grace  of  God  in  himself,  or  the 
love  of  God  to  him,  as  a  man  would  be  of  a  wound  or 
stab,  or  of  the  blowing  of  the  wind,  or  to  that  effect;  and 
he  maintained  the  same  doctrine,  alleging  some  Scripture 
for  his  support,  when  in  private  I  challenged  him  for  it,  on 
the  same  evening."^  The  same  complaint  is  made  against 
the  Brunswick  brethren  in  the  Protest  and  elsewhere. 
This  is  one  of  the  doctrines  examined  in  Mr.  Thompson's 
sermon  quoted  above;  with  regard  to  which  he  teaches, 
1.  That  assurance  is  attainable  in  this  life.  2.  That  it  is 
the  fault  of  Christians  that  it  is  not  more  generally  attained. 
3.  That  it  may  be  lost.  He  denies,  however,  that  every 
believer  is  assured  of  his  gracious  state  from  the  moment 
that  he  enters  upon  it.  In  answer  to  the  common  objec- 
tion, that  a  man  must  be  conscious  of  the  exercises  of  his 
own  mind,  he  says,  "  It  is  one  thing  to  be  conscious  of 
such  and  such  a  thought  in  my  heart,  and  another  thing  to 
be  sure  that  such  a  thought  is  an  exercise  of  grace."  That 
Mr.  Tennent  and  his  friends,  notwithstanding  casual  un- 

'  Examiner  Examined,  p.  19. 

2  Preface  to  the  Sermon  on  the  nature  of  conviction,  p.  5. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  239 

guarded  statements,  really  held  the  common  doctrine  on 
this  subject,  is  plain  from  his  remarks  on  the  Protest.  He 
there  says,  "Assurance  is  attainable  and  loseable;  some 
gracious  souls  attain  it  in  this  life  and  some  do  not."  This 
his  opponents  owned  "  to  be  right  orthodox,  and  the  sub- 
stance of  what  they  had  been  contending  for." 

Such  were  the  doctrinal  matters  in  dispute  between  the 
two  parties.  Well  might  Mr.  Tennent  say,  they  were  in 
their  own  nature  small,  though  greatly  aggravated  by  the 
distemper  of  the  times.  There  is  not  one  of  these  points, 
with  regard  to  which  they  did  not  come  to  a  substantial 
agreement,  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  was  offered  for  a 
dispassionate  comparison  of  views. 

If  the  parties  were  thus  agreed  with  respect  to  doctrines, 
were  they  not  widely  separated  in  relation  to  their  views 
of  church  government?  There  is  a  very  prevalent,  but  very 
erroneous  impression  in  reference  to  this  point.  The  schism 
is  often  represented  as  the  result  of  a  long  continued  strug- 
gle between  the  presbyterian  and  congregational  element 
in  the  synod;  between  the  Scotch  and  Irish  members  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  New  England  members  on  the 
other.  The  preceding  narrative  shows  that  there  is  not 
the  least  foundation  for  this  representation.  It  shows  that 
the  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  synod,  in  relation  to 
the  two  acts  which  were  the  matter  in  dispute,  was  con- 
fined, with  one  doubtful  exception,  to  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
members.  The  ejected  members,  with  the  same  exception, 
belonged  to  the  same  class.  The  protesting  or  Brunswick 
party,  as  it  was  called,  was,  therefore,  as  com.pletely  a 
Scotch  and  Irish  party  as  it  well  could  be.  The  narrative 
further  shows,  that  the  New  England  portion  of  the  synod 
took  part  with  the  majority  on  all  the  ecclesiastical  matters 
in  debate,  until  the  anti-presbyterial  ejectment  of  the  New 


240  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Brunswick  brethren;  and  that  those  of  them  who  subse 
quently  withdrew,  left  the  synod  not  on  account  of  the 
matters  in  dispute  between  the  contending  parties,  but  be- 
cause of  the  violent  and  unconstitutional  manner  in  which 
that  dispute  was  ended.  And  finally,  it  shows,  that  so  far 
from  the  New  England  brethren  being  driven  off,  their 
secession  was  regarded  with  great  regret.  The  synod  said 
it  was  a  thing  they  could  not  hinder,  though  contrary  both 
to  their  "judgment  and  inclination." 

If,  then,  the  members  who  were  violently  cast  out  were 
congregationalists,  it  was  not  through  New  England  influ- 
ence. It  was  Irish  Congregationalism,  if  Congregationalism 
at  all,  which  caused  the  schism.  Still,  the  most  interesting 
question  is,  were  these  ejected  brethren  really  antipresby- 
terian  in  their  principles?  It  has  been  seen  that  this  was 
one  of  the  prominent  charges  against  them;  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  charge  had  a  very  plausible  foundation. 
Those  brethren  themselves  found  it  very  difficult  to  recon- 
cile some  parts  of  their  Apology  with  the  principles  they 
professed.  To  all  appearance  they  allowed  to  presbyteries 
and  synods  nothing  beyond  advisory  powers,  even  in  judi- 
cial cases.  This  character  of  the  Apology  is  no  doubt, 
however,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  to  be  referred  to 
that  habit  of  exaggerated  statement  so  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Tennent,  and  which  involved  him  in  so  many  inconsisten- 
cies. This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  it  is  in  contradic- 
tion with  other  declarations  of  its  authors,  and  with  their 
uniform  practice.  These  are  more  trustworthy  sources  of 
evidence  of  the  opinions  of  these  gentlemen  than  any  con- 
troversial paper  written  in  the  midst  of  an  ardent  struggle, 
and  to  justify  an  extreme  proceeding.  Certain  it  is,  the 
New  Brunswick  brethren  considered  the  charge  of  anti- 
presbyterianism  as  unfounded  and  injurious.     They  assert- 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  241 

ed  their  faithful  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Directory. 
They  affirmed  that  they  were  as  strict  presbyterians  as 
their  opponents.  They  gave  such  an  explanation  of  their 
Apology  as  to  remove  all  objections  to  it;  and  their  uniform 
practice,  first  as  a  presbytery,  and  afterwards  as  a  synod, 
was,  in  fact,  as  thoroughly  conformed  to  presbyterian  rules, 
as  that  of  the  old  synod  during  any  period  of  its  history.  ^ 
If  all  these  points  are  clearly  established,  it  must  be  admit- 
ted that  the  parties  were  as  thoroughly  agreed  in  their 
principles  of  church  government,  as  in  their  doctrinal  opi- 
nions, and  the  schism  will  be  assigned  to  its  true  cause,  viz. 
the  disorder  and  alienation  consequent  on  the  excitement 
produced  by  the  revival. 

A  very  few  extracts  from  the  writings  of  the  leading 
men,  on  either  side,  will  suffice  to  prove  the  correctness  of 
the  representation  just  given,  and  to  show  the  agreement  of 
the  two  parties.  In  a  passage  just  quoted  from  Mr.  Ten- 
nent,  we  heard  him  say,  when  speaking  of  the  Directory, 
that,  they  and  we,  his  opponents  and  his  friends,  had  adopt- 
ed it,  "  as  the  standard  of  our  proceedings  and  sentiments 
respecting  the  affairs  of  church  government."  Was  such 
a  declaration  ever  made  by  the  independents  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, or  by  the  congregationalists  in  New  England?  Was 
it  ever  made  by  any  honest  man  who  was  not  a  sincere 
presbyterian  ? 

A  more  authoritative  profession  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Declaration  of  the  united  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick 
and  Newcastle,  already  referred  to.  In  order  to  vindicate 
themselves  from  the  charge  of  antipresbyterianism,  those 
presbyteries  give  a  somewhat  extended  summary  of  the 

'  The  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  this  latter  statement  will  be  found  in 
the  following  chapter,  containing  the  history  of  the  church  during  the 
schism. 

21 


242  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

universally  recognised  principles  of  presbyterianism,  and 
conclude  thus:  "  In  a  word,  we  heartily  agree  with  the 
plan  of  government  laid  down  by  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly in  the  Directory  for  church  government,  as  that  which 
is  appointed  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  contained  in  his  word; 
and  so  we  disown  and  reject  as  unscriptural,  all  other  forms 
and  models  of  charch  government  whatsoever."  They 
further  declare,  that  they  "  heartily  approve  of  the  direc- 
tions of  the  Westminster  assembly  in  their  Directory  for 
public  worship,  as  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God;  only  we 
would  not  be  understood  to  mean  as  if  every  particular 
direction  and  advice  was  of  necessary  obligation  upon  us. 
For  instance,  that  we  must  always  begin  public  worship 
with  prayer;  much  less  that  we  can  now  pray  for  the  same 
afflicted  queen  of  Bohemia,  therein  mentioned,  and  such- 
like circumstantial  things,  which  no  understanding  man  can 
judge  to  be  necessary,  or  of  constant  obligation. 

"We  likewise  agree  to  the  directions  of  the  general 
assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  in  their  Directory  for 
family  worship,  excepting  we  see  not  why  persons  of  qua- 
lity should,  on  that  account,  be  exempted  from  performing 
the  worship  of  God  themselves,  in  their  own  families,  more 
than  others;  and  the  meeting  of  divers  families  therein  dis- 
approved of,  is  not  to  be  understood  of  such  private  socie- 
ties as  may  meet  statedly,  at  proper  times,  for  reading  and 
prayer,  and  mutual  edifying  conference. 

"  Tliis  is  a  summary  account  of  our  faith  and  principles, 
and  agreeable  to  the  same  we  desire  and  design,  through 
divine  grace,  ever  to  conduct  ourselves,  that  we  may  be 
faithful  as  servants  in  all  God's  house."  ^  Stronger  profes- 
sions of  presbyterianism  were  never  made,  or  desired  by 
the  opposite  party. 

>  Detector  Detected,  p.  127,  128. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  243 

The  reader  will  now  not  be  surprised  to  hear  Mr.  Ten- 
nent  assert  that  the  parties  did  not  differ  in  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal principles.  "  What  order  and  government  were  oppos- 
ed," he  asks,  "in  the  late  time  of  contention  among  us? 
Was  it  the  necessity  of  order  and  government  in  the  church 
of  Christ  in  general  ?  No.  Was  it  the  nature  of  the  govern- 
ment which  the  Scripture  expresses?  No.  Was  it  the  plan 
of  government  which  is  expressed  in  our  Directory  agree- 
able to  the  Scriptures?  No.  What  was  then  the  core  of 
the  controversy?  Why  some  circumstantials  in  govern- 
ment; in  other  words,  some  rules  or  acts  of  discipline  form- 
ed by  the  majority,  and  reckoned  prudential  and  expedient 
by  them,  but  on  the  contrary,  prejudicial  and  sinful  by  the 
minor  party."  ^ 

The  agreement  between  the  two  parties  will  be  more 
obvious,  if  we  state  distinctly  the  points  on  which  they 
ultimately  came  to  a  full  understanding.  They  both  de- 
nied to  the  church  all  legislative  power  in  matters  of 
religion;  that  is,  all  right  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  con- 
science. This  power,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  unani- 
mously disclaimed  by  the  synod  in  1729,  in  the  adopting 
act.  It  is  formally  disclaimed  in  our  present  constitution, 
and  it  has  ever  been  disclaimed  by  all  parties  in  the  church. 
Mr.  Thompson,  in  his  Government  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
written  in  answer  to  the  Apology  of  the  New  Brunswick 
brethren,  says,  "  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  invested  his 
church  with  authority  to  make  orders,  acts,  or  diatactic 
rules  for  the  regulating  of  circumstances  of  ecclesiastical 
matters,  which  are  not,  nor  possibly  could  be  all  conde- 
scended upon  in  Scripture,  for  preventing  disorders  and 
confusion,  only  these  rules  must  conform  to  and  bear  a 
subordination  to  the  general  rules  of  the  word.    This  aulho- 

'  Irenicum,  p.  98, 99. 


244  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

rity  of  the  church  is  only  declarative,  subordinate,  and  exe- 
cutive; but  not  legislative,  supreme,  or  dictating.  The 
meaning  whereof  is  this.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  head 
and  king  of  his  church;  his  church  is  his  kingdom;  his 
word  contains  a  complete  system  of  doctrines  and  laws  for 
his  church  to  believe  and  obey;  but  he  hath  also  appointed 
officers  and  rulers  in  his  kingdom,  who  are  authorized  both 
to  teach  and  to  rule  according  to  these  laws;  and  accord- 
ingly they  have  authority  to  explain  these  doctrines,  and 
agree  about  the  meaning  of  Scripture  as  to  doctrinals;  and, 
by  consequence,  to  compose  creeds  or  confessions  of  faith. 
They  have  also  authority  to  interpret  or  explain  the  rules 
or  precepts  of  the  word,  and  to  apply  these  laws  or  rules  to 
particular  cases."  ^  Again:  "These  rules,  acts,  or  orders 
of  the  church  cannot,  with  any  propriety  of  speech,  be 
termed  religious  laws,  because  they  contain  no  new  matter 
but  what  is  supposed  to  be  contained  in  the  divine  law,  or 
general  rule  of  the  word  applied  to  such  and  such  cases."  ^ 
Again:  "  We  pretend  to  no  authority  to  make  laws  or  rules, 
the  matter  and  penalty  of  which  are  not  comprehended  in 
the  word,  though  not  expressed  therein.  As  for  instance, 
when  the  Westminster  assembly  gave  directions  to  inquire 
into  the  character  and  qualifications  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  they  judged  that  the  rules  in  the  epistles  to  Timo- 
thy and  Titus  did  require  them  to  form  and  observe  those 
very  directions,  which  they  then  and  there  laid  down  for 
that  very  purpose,  viz.  to  require  certificates,  and  to  inquire 
into  their  skill  in  the  several  parts  of  learning,  &c."^ 
Again:  "We  aver  that  the  power  and  authority,  by  which 
such  acts  or  rules  are  made,  is  only  a  ministerial,  subordi- 
nate, declarative  power  or  authority,  to  explain  and  apply 
the  rules  or  laws  already  made  by  Christ,  and  contained  in 

I  Government,  &c.  p.  60.  2  ibid.  p.  62.  3  ibid.  p.  68. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  245 

his  word  ....  which  is  no  legislative  power  at  all.  The 
constitution  of  the  presbyterian  church,  contained  in  our 
Westminster  Directory,  is  made  up  of  such  rules."  ^  "We 
are  obliged,"  he  says,  "  to  remind  our  readers  that  we  claim 
no  legislative  power,  but  only  a  ministerial  and  execu- 
tive power,  viz.  a  power  or  authority  as  officers  in  Christ's 
church  to  govern  it,  according  to  the  laws  which  he  hath 
already  given,  and  consequently  to  explain  and  apply  those 
laws  to  their  particular  cases,  whether  by  making  rules,  or 
judging  facts." 2  And  to  the  same  effect:  "We  own  and 
plead  that  every  true  church  hath  authority  to  make  rules 
about  prudentials  and  expedients;  but  we  deny  that  this 
power  is  a  power  of  legislation,  and  say  that  it  is  only  a 
declarative  and  executive  power."  ^ 

From  these  extracts  it  is  plain  what  was  disclaimed,  and 
what  was  affirmed  to  belong  to  church  judicatories.  All 
power  to  make  new  laws  on  religious  matters  was  dis- 
claimed, but  the  authority  to  make  rules  to  carry  into 
effect  the  general  principles  contained  in  the  word  of  God, 
was  asserted.  To  both  these  points  the  other  party  fully 
assented.  Mr.  Blair,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Apology, 
wrote  a  vindication  of  his  brethren  from  the  charge  of 
anti-presbyterianism,  contained  in  Mr.  Thompson's  work. 
From  this  vindication  it  appears,  that  the  power  to  which 
the  Brunswick  gentlemen  intended  to  object,  was  precisely 
that  which  Mr.  Thompson  disclaimed:  and  that  the  power 
which  he  asserted  to  belong  to  church  judicatories,  they 
readily  conceded  to  them.  "I  proceed,"  says  Mr.  Blair, 
"to  show  the  weakness  of  his  charge,  by  giving  a  just  view 
of  those  passages  of  the  Apology,  which  he  grounds  it  upon; 
and  to  this  purpose  it  will  be  necessary  to  see  and  consider 
what  that  strain  of  authority  in  church  judicatories  is,  which 

'  Government,  &c.  p.  75.  2  Ibid.  p.  97.  »  Ibid.  p.  101. . 

21* 


246  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

the  brethren  who  presented  that  Apology  do  reject  and 
reason  against."  This  he  describes  as  "a  proper  legis- 
lative or  law-making  authority;  not  only  an  authority  to 
execute  the  laws  of  Christ,  but  properly  to  make  laws  of 
their  own,  in  addition  to  the  laws  of  Christ;  which  might 
also  sometimes  happen  to  be  contrary  to  his  laws,  as  it  was 
with  some  of  the  constitutions  of  the  Jews."  ^  This  is 
exactly  the  authority  which  Mr.  Thompson  disclaimed. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  concedes  every  thing  when  he  says: 
^'We  heartily  agree  with  our  Confession  of  Faith,  that  'it 
belongs  unto  synods  and  councils  to  set  down  rules  for  the 
better  ordering  the  public  worship  of  God  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church;  to  receive  complaints  in  cases  of  mal- 
administration, and  authoritatively  determine  the  same; 
which  decrees  and  determinations,  if  consonant  to  the  word 
of  God,  are  to  be  received  with  reverence  and  submission, 
not  only  for  their  agreement  with  the  word,  but  also  for  the 
power  whereby  they  are  made  as  being  an  ordinance  of 
God  appointed  thereunto  in  his  word.' "  It  is  perfectly 
evident  this  was  all  that  was  ever  demanded  on  the  other 
side,  or  by  any  class  of  presbyterians.  And  "  all  this," 
says  Mr.  Blair,  "we  freely  allow;  and  there  is  nothing  in 
the  Apology,  so  far  as  I  can  discern,  that  can  be  produced,^ 
according  to  the  fair  rules  of  interpretation,  contrary  thereto. 
For,  observe  again,  the  point  denied  is  this,  viz:  That 
church  judicatories  have  a  lawful  power  of  oppressing  the 
consciences  of  their  members,  by  imposing  any  thing  upon 

1  Vindication  of  the  brethren  who  were  unjustly  and  illegally  cast  out  of 
the  synod  of  Philadelphia  by  a  number  of  the  members,  from  maintaining 
principles  of  anarchy  in  the  church,  and  denying  the  due  Scriptural  autho- 
rity of  church  judicatories;  against  the  charges  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John 
Thompson  in  his  piece  entitled.  The  Government  of  the  Church  of  Christ ; 
by  Samuel  Blair.— Works,  p.  209. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  247 

them  upon  pain  of  censure  and  non-communion,  which 
they  judge  sinful,  and  cannot  in  conscience  comply  with; 
when  the  majority,  in  the  meantime,  are  not  in  conscience 
bound  by  the  authority  of  God  declaring  or  ordaining  that 
very  thing  in  his  word.  Such  a  power  as  this,  is,  I  think, 
properly  a  legislative  power  in  religious  matters."  ^  It  is 
plain  then  that  Mr.  Blair  and  Mr.  Thompson  thus  far  per- 
fectly agreed.  They  both  disclaimed  what  they  called  a 
legislative  power  in  religious  matters,  that  is,  a  power  to 
make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience;  and  they  both  asserted 
the  power  to  decide  authoritatively  in  judicial  cases,  and  to 
set  down  rules  for  the  government  of  the  church. 

The  parties  agreed  also  as  to  the  limits  of  this  latter 
power.  They  both  held  that  the  decisions  and  rules  of 
church  judicatories  were  binding  on  dissentient  members, 
provided  those  determinations  were  not  regarded  as  sinful. 
And  further,  they  agreed,  that  when  the  conscience  of  any 
member  forbad  compliance  with  such  determinations,  his 
duty  was  peaceably  to  withdraw,  and  not  trample  on  the 
rules  of  the  body.  ^  Mr.  Thompson  says  on  this  subject, 
"  No  member  of  a  judicatory  is  abridged  or  deprived  of  his 
privilege  hereby.  For  first,  he  hath  the  privilege  as  a 
member  to  debate  and  reason ;  again,  he  is  at  liberty  to 
give  his  vote  or  keep  it;  and  thirdly,  he  is  at  liberty  to 
submit  and  conform  to  the  determination  of  the  judicatory 
by  vote,  or  not.  Where  then,  I  beseech,  is  the  abridgement  ? 
And  as  for  penalty,  there  is  no  new  penalty  inflicted,  but 
what  is  the  unavoidable  consequence  of  differing  judgments 
among  the  members  of  a  judicatory,  viz:  Submission  to 
the  judgment  of  the  majority,  or  separation;  which,  with 

•  Works,  p.  213. 

^  It  is  true  the  Brunswick  brethren  did  not  act  on  this  principle,  but  they 
came  to  acknowledge  its  justice. 


248  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

its  following  inconveniences  is  mutual,  and  affects  both 
parties  in  proportion."  *  "  The  minority  of  a  church  judi- 
catory, do  virtually  promise  to  be  determined  by  the 
suffrage  of  the  majority,  every  time  they  consent  to  let  the 
matter  in  debate  go  to  a  vote  ;  and,  therefore,  afterwards  to 
refuse  subjection  to  such  determination  is  to  forfeit  their 
promise.  They  exercise  liberty  of  conscience  and  private 
judgment  in  voting;  and  they  have  still  hberty  of  con- 
science and  private  judgment  of  discretion  to  determine 
themselves  as  to  their  obedience;  i.  e.  if  they  apprehend,  or 
come  to  be  persuaded  that  what  is  concluded  is  sinful,  they 
are  at  liberty  to  refuse  obedience,  and  that  without  the  least 
hazard  of  any  penalty  or  censure,  besides  what  is  the  una- 
voidable consequence  of  the  difference  of  judgment  in  such 
cases,  and  of  the  authority  which  they  themselves  have 
approved  by  putting  themselves  under  the  government  of 
it."^  The  authors  of  the  Protest  take  the  same  ground: 
"  We  utterly  renounce,"  say  they,  "  all  claim  of  power  to 
make  any  scriptureless  canons;  and  claim  a  bare  minis- 
terial authority,  to  set  down  rules  and  directions  for  the 
ordering  of  public  worship  of  God,  and  the  government 
of  his  church  agreeable  to  the  thirty-first  article,  part  third, 

of  our   Confession  of  Faith If  we  cannot   agree 

without  voting,  the  majority  have  a  casting  vote  in  all  our 
determinations,  as  is  usual  in  all  judicatories  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical, so  that  the  minority  or  dissenting  voters,  in  rules  of 
common  concern,  must  either  comply,  or  forbear  to  coun- 
teract, or  separate."  ^ 

Mr.  Tennent  teaches  the  same  doctrine.  "  No  doubt  a 
smaller  number,"  says  he,  "  ought  freely  to  submit  to  the 
conclusions  of  the  majority,  in  matters  of  government,  which 

1  Government,  &c.  p.  90.  2  Ibid.  p.  93. 

3  Refutation  ot  Mr.  Tennent's  Remarks,  p.  55. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  249 

they,  the  majority,  judge  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the 
church.  For  without  this  there  could  be  no  government  at 
all.  Without  this  the  minor  party  would  have  power  to 
impose  upon  the  major,  in  things  which  they  reckon  of  the 
last  consequence  to  the  good  of  the  society;  which  is 
absurd.  It  is  true  the  major  party  may  be  mistaken  as 
well  as  the  minor,  and  consequently  abuse  their  power,  for 
which  there  is  no  help  in  the  present  imperfect  state  of 
things,  but  humble  remonstrance  by  reason  and  argument. 
Yet  considered  as  a  society,  the  majority  have  a  right  to 
judge  for  themselves,  (upon  the  plan  of  private  judgment,) 
what  they  reckon  essential  to  their  constitution,  or  to  the 
well-being  of  the  church  under  their  care,  and  consequently 
to  exclude  from  their  society  such  as  do  not  comply  there- 
with. Moreover  in  matters  which  are  reckoned  circum- 
stantial by  the  majority,  the  minor  party  ought,  for  peace 
sake,  to  comply,  if  they  be  not  conscience-bound  in  the 
matter;  but  if  so,  they  cannot;  and  whether  forbearance 
should  not  be  exercised  towards  them  in  this  case,  as  well 
as  in  other  parallel  cases,  I  leave  to  others  to  determine."  ^ 
"  There  are  two  general  cases,"  says  Mr.  Blair,  "  wherein 
we  freely  grant  church  judicatories  must  require  and  insist 
upon  submission  and  obedience  from  all  their  members, 
whether  they  assent  or  dissent,  whether  they  be  negatives 
or  approbatives,  or  non-liquets  in  the  making  of  the  acts  or 
rules,  on  pain  of  such  censure  as  may  appear  from  Scrip- 
ture to  be  due  to  their  disobedience,  according  to  the  vari- 
ous instances  of  it,  or  cases  wherein  it  may  be:  First,  when 
the  judicature  does  judge,  that  that  very  particular  which 
they  determine,  appoint,  or  forbid,  is  itself  particularly 
declared,  appointed,  or  forbidden  by  God  in  Holy  Scripture; 
whether  the  point  be  determined  in  Scripture  in  so  many 

1  Irenicura,  p.  99. 


250  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

express  words,  or  by  plain  consequence,  it  is  the  same 
thing.     The   other   general  case   wherein  obedience   and 
submission  are  necessary  to  be  given  to  church  judicatories 
and  required  by  them  is,  when  in  matters  of  human  pru- 
dence and  expediency,  they  can  submit  without  conscience 
of  sin  in  so  doing.     When  the  majority  of  a  judicature 
judge  a  particular  thing  or  rule  to  be  a  good  prudential 
expedient  in  present  circumstances,  or  to  answer  the  design 
of  some  general  direction  or  injunction  of  God's  word, 
though  the  minority  or  lesser  number  judge  ii  not  so,  yet 
they  are  in  duty  and  conscience  bound  to  submit  and  obey, 
unless  they  judge  the  thing  or  rule  to  be  contrary  to  God's 
word,  and  so,  that  it  is  sinful  for  them  to  obey."  ^     Further 
than  this  no  presbyterian  ever  went.     Finally,  when  these 
brethren  came  to  unite  with  others  in  the  formation  of  a 
new  synod,  it  was  laid  down  as  a  fundamental  principle: 
"  That  in  matters  of  discipline  and  those  things  which  relate 
to  the  peace  and  good  order  of  our  churches,  they  shall  be 
determined  according  to  the  major  vote  of  ministers  and 
elders,  with  which  vote  every  member  shall  actively  concur 
or  passively  acquiesce.     But  if  any  member  cannot  in  con- 
science agree  to  the  determination  of  the  majority,  and  the 
synod  think  themselves  obliged  to  insist  upon  it  as  essen- 
tially necessary  to  the  well-being  of  our  churches,  in  such 
case,  such  dissenting  member  promises  peaceably  to  with- 
draw from  the  body,  without  endeavouring  to   raise   any 
dispute  or  contention  upon  the  debated  point,  or  any  unjust 
alienation  from  them.''  ^     In  all  the  protracted  negociations 
between  the  two  synods,  this  article  was  acquiesced  in  by 
both  parties,  and  was  adopted  in  175S,  when  the  union 
actually  took  place. 

•  Vindication,  t&,c.  p.  211  and  212. 

2  Minutes  of  the  Sjnod  of  New  York,  p.  2. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  251 

Notwithstanding,  therefore,  the  ardent  debates  and  mu- 
tual criminations  on  this  subject,  it  appears  the  two  parties 
were  of  one  mind.  They  were  agreed  in  disclaiming  all 
legislative  power  in  religious  matters.  They  were  agreed, 
in  the  right  of  synods  to  set  down  rules  for  the  government 
of  the  church.  They  were  agreed  in  the  binding  authority 
of  these  rules  even  over  dissentients,  except  when  such 
dissentients  believed  them  to  be  sinful.  They  were  agreed 
that  when  a  member  could  not  obey  a  given  rule  with  a 
good  conscience,  it  was  his  duty  peaceably  to  withdraw. 
Finally,  they  were  agreed  that  when  the  synod  saw  that 
the  minority  were  opposed  to  any  measure,  not  in  judg- 
ment only  but  in  conscience,  they  ought  not  to  insist  upon 
it,  and  thus  necessitate  a  schism,  unless  they  believed  the 
measure  to  be  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  churches. 
These  principles  are  all  so  plain  and  so  reasonable,  that  we 
need  not  wonder  they  commanded  the  unanimous  consent 
of  both  parties,  or  that  they  have  remained  the  unques- 
tioned principles  of  our  church  from  that  day  to  this.  If  in 
the  exasperation  of  another  conflict,  when  no  truth  is 
clearly  seen,  and  no  duty  properly  appreciated,  they  have 
again  been  called  in  question  by  heated  partisans,  they  will 
resume  the  sway  which  belongs  to  truth  and  reason  when 
the  excitement  has  died  away. 

It  appears  from  this  history  that  the  great  schism  was 
not  the  result  of  conflicting  views,  either  as  to  doctrine  or 
church  government.  It  was  the  result  of  alienation  of  feel- 
ing produced  by  the  controversies  relating  to  the  revival. 
In  these  controversies  the  New  Brunswick  brethren  were 
certainly  the  aggressors.  In  their  unrestrained  zeal,  they 
denounced  brethren,  whose  Christian  character  they  had 
no  right  to  question.  They  disregarded  the  usual  rules  of 
ministerial  intercourse,  and  avowed  the  principle  that  in 


252  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

extraordinary  times  and  circumstances  such  rules  ought  to 
be  suspended.  Acting  upon  this  principle,  they  divided 
the  great  majority  of  the  congregations  within  the  sphere 
of  their  operations,  and  by  appealing  to  the  people,  suc- 
ceeded in  overwhelming  their  brethren  with  popular  oblo- 
quy. Excited  by  a  sense  of  injury,  and  alarmed  by  the 
disorders  consequent  on  these  new  methods,  the  opposite 
party  had  recourse  to  violent  measures  for  redress,  which 
removed  none  of  the  evils  under  which  they  suffered,  and 
involved  them  in  a  controversy  with  a  large  class  of  their 
brethren,  with  whom  they  had  hitherto  acted  in  concert. 
These  facts  our  fathers  have  left  on  record  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  their  children;  to  teach  them  that  in  times  of  excite- 
ment the  rules  of  order,  instead  of  being  suspended,  are  of 
more  importance  than  ever  to  the  well-being  of  the  church; 
that  no  pretence  of  zeal  can  authorize  the  violation  of  the 
rules  of  charity  and  justice;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  it 
is  better  to  suffer  wrong  than  to  have  recourse  to  illegal 
methods  of  redress;  that  violence  is  no  proper  remedy  for 
disorder,  and  that  adherence  to  the  constitution,  is  not  only 
the  most  Christian,  but  also  the  most  effectual  means  of 
resistance  against  the  disturbers  of  the  peace  and  order  of 
the  church. 


253 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH   DURING  THE   SCHIS^I, 

1741-58. 

Synod  of  Philadelphia.  Accessions  to  the  synod. — Missionary  labours  of 
the  synod. — Its  efforts  in  behalf  of  education. — Establishment  of  the 
widows'  fund. — The  form  of  government. — Presbyterial  acts  performed 
by  the  synod. — Its  supervisc"^y  power. — Decision  of  casuistical  questions. — 
Addresses  to  the  churches  in  reference  to  the  low  state  of  religion,  and  to 
public  calamities. 

Synod  of  New  York.  Articles  of  agreement  on  which  the  synod  was  found- 
ed.— Accessions  to  the  synod. — Its  missionary  labours. —  Its  efforts  in  be- 
half of  education. — Its  standard  of  doctrine. — Its  form  of  government, 
illustrated  by  its  acts  of  review  and  control ;  the  formation  of  new  presby- 
teries ;  the  decision  of  judicial  questions ;  the  strict  presbyterianism  of  its 
subordinate  presbyteries. — The  synod  conformed  to  the  Scottish  model,  in 
appointing  annually  a  commission,  in  investing  committees  with  full  synod- 
ical  power,  and  in  acting  as  a  presbytery. — History  of  the  negotiations 
for  an  union  of  the  two  synods. — The  plan  of  union  ultimately  adopted  in 
1758. 

The  number  of  ministers  connected  with  the  synod  of 
Philadelphia,  before  the  schism,  was  from  forty  to  forty- 
five.  Nine  were  excluded  in  1741,  and  eleven  or  twelve 
withdrew  in  1745,  when  the  synod  of  New  York  was 
formed,  leaving  in  connexion  with  the  old  synod  from 
twenty  to  twenty-three.  During  the  seventeen  years  that 
the  separation  lasted,  the  number  of  ministers  in  the  synod 
of  Philadelphia,  remained  nearly  stationary.  This  was  the 
result  of  various  cau.ses.  The  portion  of  the  country  which 
fell  within  the  bounds  of  that  synod,  was  comparatively 
new,  and  settled  by  a  heterogeneous  population,  Irish, 
Scotch,  German,  Welsh,  and  English.     These  people  to  a 

22 


254  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

great  extent  were  poor,  and  much  less  cultivated  than  the 
original  settlers  of  New  England.  They  were  also  widely- 
scattered  and  mixed  with  other  denominations,  which  ren- 
dered the  formation  of  churches,  and  the  support  of  pas- 
tors, exceedingly  difficult.  The  number  of  young  men  qua- 
lified for  the  ministry  furnished  by  such  a  population,  was 
of  course  small,  and  the  supply  of  preachers  from  abroad 
was  tardy  and  precarious. 

During  this  period  also,  the  colonies,  especially  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia,  were  greatly  harassed  and  injured  by 
the  French  and  Indian  wars.  In  a  multitude  of  cases  set- 
tlements, instead  of  increasing,  were  entirely  broken  up, 
and  the  people  murdered  or  scattered.  This  disturbed  state 
of  the  country  was  of  course  very  unfavourable  to  the  for- 
mation of  new  congregations,  and  to  the  increase  of  those 
already  established.  Missionaries  sent  by  the  synod  of 
New  York  to  Virginia,  were  more  than  once  entirely  pre- 
vented from  fulfilling  their  appointments,  by  the  dangerous 
condition  of  the  frontier  settlements.  ^ 

Another  cause  of  the  slow  increase  of  the  synod  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, was  the  decided  superiority  of  the  synod  of 
New  York.  This  superiority  was  not  merely  as  to  num- 
bers, but  as  to  zeal,  weight  of  character,  and  facility  of 
obtaining  a  supply  of  ministers.  To  this  synod,  therefore, 
was  attracted  a  large  proportion  of  those  young  men,  who, 
from  their  geographical  position,  most  naturally  belonged 
to  the  other.  New  England  too,  even  at  that  day,  had 
begun  to  be  the  hive   of  ministers.     The  presbyteries  of 

'  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  p.  101.  "  The  difficulties  and  dan- 
gers of  the  times,"  it  is  said,  "  rendered  it  in  a  great  degree  impracticable 
for  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Brainard  to  answer  the  end  of  their  appointment  to 
the  southward,  and  for  tiiat  reason  said  appointments  were  not  fulfilled. 
There  were  like  reasons  for  Mr.  Clark  not  fulfilling  his  appointment  to  the 
southern  provinces."     These  appointments  were  made  in  1755. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  255 

New  York  and  New  Brunswick  lying  contiguous  to  the 
sources  of  supply,  naturally  received  the  ministers  who 
entered  our  church  from  the  eastern  provinces. 

The  synod  of  Philadelphia,  however,  laboured  with  no 
little  zeal  and  fidelity  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  with 
which  they  were  surrounded,  and  to  cultivate  successfully, 
the  field  which  God  had  committed  to  their  care.  The 
following  ordinations  and  receptions  of  new  members  were 
reported  to  the  synod  during  the  period  now  under  review: 
in  1742,  Messrs.  Guild  and  Samuel  Evans,  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Alexander  McDowell,  by 
the  presbytery  of  Donegal;  in  1744,  Timothy  Griffiths  and 
John  Steele,  by  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  who  also 
reported  the  reception  of  Mr,  James  Scougall,  an  ordained 
minister  from  Scotland,  and  his  settlement  at  Snowhill, 
Maryland.  In  1747,  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  reported 
the  ordination  of  David  Thorn,  and  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle that  of  John  Dick,  John  Hamilton,  and  Hector 
Alison.  In  1748,  the  Rev.  David  Brown,  from  Scotland, 
was  received  by  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle.  In  1749, 
the  presbytery  of  Donegal  reported  the  ordination  of  Mr. 
Tate;  and  in  1752,  that  of  Mr.  Samson  Smith;  and  in 
1754,  that  of  Robert  McMurdie;  the  same  year  the  pres- 
bytery of  Philadelphia  reported  the  ordination  of  John 
Kinkead.  In  1757,  the  Rev.  John  Miller  was  received  by 
the  presbytery  of  Newcastle.  This  gentleman,  the  father 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  of  Princeton,  was  born  in  Boston, 
whither  his  parents  had  removed  from  Scotland.  Mr. 
John  Miller  was  settled  at  Dover,  in  the  State  of  Delaware, 
and  continued  the  faithful  pastor  of  that  church  until  his 
death,  in  1791.  The  same  year  the  Rev,  Alexander  Miller 
was  received  by  the  synod.  Besides  these,  we  find  the 
names  ofMr.  William  McKennan,  Matthew  Wilson,  William 


256  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Donaldson,  and  John  Alison,  on  the  minutes  as  ministers 
or  preachers.  It  thus  appears  that  about  twenty-two  mi- 
misters  were  added  to  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  during 
the  continuance  of  the  schism.  During  the  sarrie  period 
the  death  or  removal  of  ten  ministers  is  recorded.  ^  It  is 
not  probable  that  the  minutes  give  a  full  account  either  of 
the  accessions  or  losses,  particularly  of  the  latter,  as  the 
number  upon  record  in  1758,  was  not  much  larger  than  it 
was  in  1745. 

The  attention  of  the  synod  was  early  turned,  not  only  to 
the  wants  of  the  people  within  their  immediate  bounds,  but 
to  those  also  of  the  emigrants  who  were  rapidly  extending 
themselves  through  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  In  1742, 
a  supplication  was  received  "  from  some  of  the  back  inha- 
bitants of  Virginia,"  begging  the  synod  to  write  to  the 
general  assembly  in  Scotland,  or  to  its  commission,  request- 
ing that  a  minister  or  probationer  might  be  sent  over  to 
them.  ^  Such  a  letter  was  accordingly  written.  The  fol- 
lowing year  the  synod  wrote  again  to  the  assembly,  "  to 
lay  before  them  the  low  and  melancholy  condition  of  this 
infant  church,  both  for  want  of  probationers  to  supply  our 
numerous  vacancies,  and  also  for  want  of  suitable  encourage- 
ment for  ministers  in  new  settlements,  and  to  intreat  them 
both  to  send  ministers  and  probationers,  and  to  allow  them 
some  small  support  out  of  their  fund  for  some  years,  in 
new  places;  and  that  they  be  pleased  to  enable  us  in 
some  measure  or  by  some  method  to  erect  a  seminary  or 

'  The  deaths  reported  are  those  of  Thomas  Evans  and  James  Martin  in 
1743,  of  Mr.  Andrews  in  1747,  of  John  Dick  in  1748,  of  David  Evans  and 
Samuel  Cavin  in  1751,  of  John  Thompson  and  Hugh  Conn  in  1753,  of  Robert 
Cathcart  and  Timothy  Griffiths  in  1754,  and  of  Mr.  Elmer  in  1755.  The 
return  of  Mr.  David  Brown  to  Scotland,  is  mentioned  in  the  minutes  for  1749. 

2  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  ii.  p.  79. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  257 

school  for  educating  young  men  for  these  ends  among  our- 
selves." ^ 

In  1744,  "  a  representation  was  laid  before  synod  from 
many  people  in  North  Carolina,  showing  their  desolate 
condition,  and  petitioning  that  we  would  appoint  one  of  our 
number  to  correspond  with  them."  ^  The  same  year  "  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Dorsius,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church  in 
Buck's  county,  laid  a  letter  before  synod,  from  the  deputies 
of  North  and  South  Holland,  wherein  they  desire  of  the 
synod  an  account  of  the  high  and  low  Dutch  churches  in 
this  Province,  and  also  of  the  churches  belonging  to  the 
presbyterian  synod  of  Philadelphia;  and  whether  the  Dutch 
churches  may  be  joined  in  communion  with  said  synod,  or 
if  this  may  not  be,  that  they  would  form  themselves  into  a 
regular  body  and  government  among  themselves.  In  pur- 
suance of  which  letter,  the  synod  agreed  that  letters  be 
written  in  the  name  of  the  synod  to  the  deputies  of  those 
synods  in  Latin,  and  to  the  Scotch  ministers  in  Rotterdam, 
giving  them  an  account  of  the  churches  here,  and  declaring 
our  willingness  to  join  with  the  Calvinistic  Dutch  churches 
here,  to  assist  each  other  as  far  as  possible  in  promoting  the 
common  interests  of  religion,  and  signifying  the  present 
great  want  of  ministers  among  the  high  and  low  Dutch, 
with  the  desire  that  they  may  help  in  educating  men  for 
the  ministry.  And  the  synod  ordered  that  Messrs.  An- 
drews, Cross,  Evans,  and  the  moderator,  (McHenry,)  write 
the  said  letters."  ^ 

That  there  were  already  congregations  formed  and  fur- 
nished with  ministers  in  the  frontier  settlements  in  Virginia, 
appears  from  the  following  minute  made  in  1747.  "Upon 
considering  the  distance  of  the  brethren  in  the  back  parts  of 
Virginia,  we  think  it  necessary  that  we  should  know  the 

'  Minutes,  p.  85,  2  ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  4.  3  Ibid.  p.  5. 

22* 


258  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

State  of  the  churches  which  are  under  our  care,  though  at 
a  distance  from  us;  and,  therefore,  it  is  ordered  that  at 
least  one  of  those  brethren  shall  every  year  attend  us,  that 
Ave  may  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  the  state  of  Christ's 
kingdom  among  them,  and  that  we  may  keep  synodical 
communion  in  reality,  and  not  in  name  only.  And  ordered 
that  Messrs.  McHenry  and  Sanchey  write  them  a  letter, 
acquainting  them  with  the  mind  of  the  synod  in  said  affair."  ^ 
These  congregations  were  formed  principally  under  the 
ministrations  of  the  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal. 
As  early  as  1738,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Anderson,  a  member  of  that 
presbytery  was  sent  to  the  settlements  in  the  vicinity  of 
Staunton.  The  following  year  Mr.  John  Thompson  sup- 
plied in  the  neighbourhood  of  Winchester  and  Staunton; 
and  the  same  year  Mr.  John  Craig  received  calls  from  two 
settlements  near  Staunton,  which  he  accepted,  having  been 
ordained  by  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  for  that  purpose. 
These  congregations  he  called  Augusta  Church  and  Tink- 
ling Spring.  He  continued  to  labour  in  these  two  congre- 
gations, (which  are  two  of  the  oldest  congregations  in 
Virginia,)  for  about  fourteen  years,  when  he  took  his  dis- 
mission from  Tinkling  Spring,  and  continued  the  remainder 
of  his  days  pastor  of  Augusta  Church  alone ;  "  which  church 
still  continues  to  be  numerous  and  respectable,  distinguished 
in  general  for  their  orthodoxy  and  good  order,  and  enjoying 
from  time  to  time  some  spiritual  refreshings."  ^  About  the 
year  1744,  the  Rev.  Mr,  Black,  of  the  presbytery  of  Done- 
gal was  settled  at  Rockfish.  ^ 

In  1748,  the  synod,  in  consequence  of  an  application  for 

1  Minutes,  p.  21. 

2  See  MS.  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Virginia,  and  part  of 
North  Carolina,  prepared  by  the  Lexington  Presbytery  in  1799. 

3  Ibid, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  259 

supplies,  "  appointed  that  one  minister  should  be  sent  in  the 
fall,  and  another  in  the  spring,  to  preach  in  the  back  parts 
of  Virginia,  each  eight  weeks,  and  that  such  members  be 
exempt,  until  other  members  of  the  synod  do  the  same,"  ^ 
The  following  year  it  was  ordered,  that  Mr.  Tate  go  out  eight 
weeks  in  the  fall,  and  Mr.  McHenry  as  many  in  the  spring.  ^ 
In  1750,  this  duty  was  assigned  to  Mr.  Griffith  and  Mr.  Sa- 
muel Thompson;  and  in  1751,  to  Mr.  Hector  Alison  and  Mr. 
Samson  Smith.  ^  In  1752,  it  was  ordered,  that  Mr.  McKen- 
nan  supply  the  congregations  of  North  and  South  Mountain, 
Timber-grove,  North  river,  and  Cedar-creek,  and  John 
Hinton's,  until  October,  chiefly,  and  other  vacancies  as  often 
as  he  can;  and  that  Mr.  Kinkead  shall  supply  the  same 
from  the  middle  of  November  till  the  first  of  March."  ^  In 
1753,  supplications  were  again  received  from  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  and  Mr.  McMurdie  was  sent  to  preach  in 
the  vacant  congregations  for  ten  weeks  or  longer  if  needful; 
and  Mr.  Donaldson  for  a  similar  term.  These  missionaries 
were  urged  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  congregations 
in  North  Carolina,  between  the  Yadkin  and  Catawba 
rivers.  ^ 

In  1755,  the  synod  sent  Mr.  Donaldson  to  the  same  set- 
tlements for  three  months  in  the  fall,  Mr.  Matthew  Wilson 
for  three  months  in  the  winter,  and  Mr.  McKennan  for 
three  months  in  the  spring. «  In  1756,  it  was  ordered  that 
Mr.  John  Alison  supply  the  same  "  vacancies  next  fall  and 
winter.  And  it  is  recommended  to  him,  and  to  all  such 
who  may  be  sent  by  us  to  supply  those  distant  parts,  to 

>  Minutes,  p.  24.  2  ibid.  p.  26.  s  Ibid.  p.  30. 

*  Ibid.  p.  41.    Timber  Grove  is  Timber  Ridge.     North  river  runs  near 
Lexington,  in  which  the  church  is  now  situated.     There  is  still  a  church  on 
the  old  site  called  New  Monmouth.    North  Mountain  is  six  miles  west  of 
Staunton.     Cedar  creek  ten  or  twelve  miles  south-west  from  Winchester. 
5  Ibid.  p.  44.  6  Ibid.  p.  49. 


260  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Study  in  all  their  public  ministrations  and  private  commu- 
nications, to  promote  peace  and  unity  among  the  societies, 
and  to  avoid  whatever  may  tend  to  ferment  divisions  and 
party  spirit,  and  to  treat  every  minister  from  the  synod  of 
New  York,  of  like  principles  and  peaceful  temper,  in  a 
brotherly  manner,  as  we  desire  to  promote  true  religion 
and  not  party  designs.  And  the  synod  resolved  to  send  a 
copy  of  these  instructions  to  the  brethren  of  the  synod  of 
New  York,  hoping  that  they  will  recommend  a  like  conduct 
to  any  they  send  thither.  Ordered  that  each  of  our  sup- 
plies to  those  distant  parts,  carry  a  copy  of  this  minute 
with  them."  ^ 

In  1757,  it  was  ordered,  "that  Mr.  Miller  supply  the 
following  settlements  in  order  in  the  fall,  each  one  Sabbath 
day,  viz:  Gather's  settlement,  Osborne's,  Morrison's,  Jer- 
sey's on  Yadkin;  Butfler's  and  Baker's  settlement.  And 
that  Mr.  Craig  supply  the  same  settlements,  each  one  Sab- 
bath day  in  the  spring;  together  with  Brown's,  North  and 
South  Mountain,  and  Calf-pasture  settlements,  in  Virginia; 
and  that  they  preach  to  lesser  congregations  on  week  days, 
as  often  as  they  can."  ^ 

These  notices  give  but  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  mis- 
sionary labours  of  the  members  of  this  synod.  Each  pres- 
bytery was  a  missionary  society,  and  most  of  the  missions 
to  vacant  congregations  or  destitute  settlements  were  made 
under  their  direction,  and  therefore  do  not  appear  upon  the 
minutes  of  the  synod. 

Next  to  the  religious  instruction  of  their  own  people,  and 
the  supply  of  the  new  settlements,  the  duty  of  providing 
some  adequate  means  for  the  education  of  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  seems  to  have  pressed  most  heavily  upon  the  mem- 
bers of  the  synod.     From  an  early  period,  probably  as  ear- 

I  Minutes,  p.  55.  2  Ibid.  p.  64. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  261 

ly  as  1719,  or  1720,  the  Rev.  William  Tennent,  sen'r.,  had 
erected  a  school  at  Neshaminy,  long  known  as  the  Log 
College,  where  some  of  the  most  distinguished  and  useful 
ministers  of  that  generation  received  their  education.    This 
was  a  private  institution,  and  had  no  immediate  connexion 
with  the  synod.     In  1739,  Mr.  John  Thompson  introduced 
an  overture  into  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  proposing  the 
establishment  of  a  school   under  the  care  of  the  synod. 
This  overture  was  the  same  year  referred  to  the  synod, 
and  "unanimously  approved;"   and  Messrs.   Pemberton, 
Dickinson,  Cross,  and  Anderson,  were  nominated,  "  two  of 
whom,  if  they  can  be  prevailed  upon,  to  be  sent  home  to 
Europe   to   prosecute   this  affair,  with  proper  directions. 
And  in  order  to  this,  it  was  ordered,  that  the  commission 
of  synod,  with  correspondents  from  every  presbytery,  meet 
at  Philadelphia,  the  third  Wednesday  of  August  next,  and 
if  it  be  necessary  that  Mr.  Pemberton  go  to  Boston,  pursu- 
ant to  this  design,  it  is  ordered,  that  the  presbytery  of  New 
York  supply  his  pulpit  during  his  absence."  ^    When  the 
commission  met  in  accordance  with  this  appointment,  it 
was  resolved  that   application  should  be  made   to  every 
presbytery  for  their  concurrence  and  assistance,  and  that  a 
letter  should  be  written  to  the  general  assembly  in  Scot- 
land, soliciting  their  co-operation.     In  consequence,  how- 
ever, of  the  small  number  of  members  in  attendance,  it  was 
thought  best  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  whole  synod;  and 
the  commission  accordingly  resolved  to  call  an  extra  meet- 
ing of  the  synod  on  the  last  Wednesday  of  September,  en- 
joining "  on  the  members  present  to  inform  their  respective 
presbyteries  of  the  appointment,  and  that  the  moderator 
send  letters  to  the  presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  New 
York,  ordering  their  attendance  at  the  time  appointed."    It 

1  Minutes,  p.  67,  of  vol.  ii. 


262  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

was  further  ordered,  "  that  a  letter  be  remitted  to  Dr.  Col- 
man,  to  be  communicated  to  our  brethren  of  Boston,  ear- 
nestly desiring  their  concurrence  and  assistance  in  this 
affair."  ^  It  appears  from  the  minutes  of  the  following 
year,  1740,  that  in  consequence  of  "  war  breaking  out  be- 
tween England  and  Spain  the  calling  'of  the  synod  was 
omitted,  and  the  whole  affair  laid  aside  for  the  time."  A 
letter  from  Dr.  Colman,  in  reply  to  the  one  written  to  him 
by  the  commission,  was  read  before  the  synod,  wherein,  in 
the  name  of  the  associated  brethren  of  Boston,  "  he  assures 
the  synod  of  their  readiness  to  concur  with  the  synod  in 
their  laudable  proposal  of  erecting  a  school  or  seminary  of 
learning  in  these  parts."  ^ 

Nothing  farther  was  done  in  this  business  until  1744. 
From  the  minutes  for  that  year  it  appears  that  "  a  com- 
mittee was  held  at  the  Great  Valley,  November  16,  1743, 
by  a  private  agreement  between  the  presbyteries  of  Phila- 
delphia, Newcastle,  and  Donegal,  the  minutes  of  which 
meeting  were  laid  before  the  synod,  showing  that  the  said 
committee  considered  the  necessity  of  speedy  endeavours  to 
educate  youth  for  supplying  our  vacancies;  but  as  the  pro- 
per method  cannot  be  so  well  compassed  without  the  synod, 
they  refer  the  consideration  of  the  affair  to  that  reverend 
body;  but  agree,  in  the  mean  time,  a  school  be  opened  for 
the  education  of  youth.  And  this  synod,  it  is  added,  now 
approve  of  that  design,  and  take  the  said  school  under  their 
care,  and  agree  upon  the  following  plan  for  carrying  on  the 
design: 

"First,  there  shall  be  a  school  kept  open,  where  all  per- 
sons who  please  may  send  their  children,  and  have  them 
taught  gratis,  in  the  languages,  philosophy,  and  divinity. 

"  Second,  in  order  to  carry  on  this  design,  it  is  agreed 

'  Minutes,  vol.  ii.  p.  68.  2  Ibid.  p.  73. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  263 

that  every  congregation  under  our  care,  be  applied  to  for 
yearly  contributions,  more  or  less,  as  they  can  afford,  and 
as  God  may  incline  them  to  contribute,  until  Providence 
open  a  door  for  our  supporting  the  school  some  other  way. 

"  Third,  if  any  thing  can  be  spared,  besides  what  may 
support  a  master  and  tutor,  it  be  applied  by  the  trustees  for 
buying  books  and  other  necessaries  for  the  said  school,  and 
the  benefit  of  it,  as  the  trustees  shall  see  proper.  And  Mr. 
Alison  is  chosen  master  of  the  said  school,  and  has  the  pri- 
vilege of  choosing  an  usher  under  him  to  assist  him;  and 
he,  Mr,  Alison,  is  exempted  from  all  public  business,  save 
only  attending  church  judicatories,  and  what  concerns  his 
particular  pastoral  charge.  And  the  synod  agree  to  allow 
Mr.  Alison  £20  per  annum,  and  the  usher  £15.''  ^  The 
same  day  the  synod  appointed  a  board  of  trustees  for  the 
school,  three  of  whom  were  to  visit  the  school  every  quar- 
ter. "These  trustees,"  it  is  added,  "are  to  inspect  into  the 
master's  diligence  in,  and  method  of  teaching;  consider  and 
direct  what  authors  are  chiefly  to  be  read  in  the  several 
branches  of  learning;  to  examine  the  scholars  from  tim.e  to 
time  as  to  their  proficiency;  to  apply  the  money  procured 
from  our  people  as  ordered  above;  and,  in  sum,  order  all 
affairs  relating  to  said  school,  as  they  shall  see  expedient, 
and  be  accountable  to  the  synod,  making  report  of  their 
proceedings  and  the  state  of  the  school  yearly." 

This  it  must  be  admitted  was  a  very  liberal  plan.  A 
school  was  thus  established  for  the  gratuitous  instruction 
of  the  youth  of  all  denominations,  and  sustained  by  the 
efforts  of  one  of  the  poorest ;  and  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished scholars  at  that  time  in  the  country,  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  it.  The  only  record  in  the  minutes  for  1745, 
relating  to  the  school,  is  the  notice  of  the  report  of  the  trus- 

•  Minutes,  vol.  iii.  pp.  4,  5. 


264  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

tees,  and  an  order  to  those  ministers  who  had  not  taken  up 
a  collection  for  its  support,  to  attend  to  that  duty.  It  ap- 
pears that,  by  the  order  of  the  commission,  Messrs.  An- 
drews and  Cross  had  written  a  letter  to  President  Clap  and 
the  trustees  of  Yale  College,  in  relation  to  this  enterprise, 
as  notice  is  taken  of  his  reply.  When  President  Clap's  let- 
ter was  presented  to  the  synod  in  1746,  an  answer  was 
prepared,  which  is  inserted  on  the  records  at  length. 

It  may  be  inferred  from  this  answer,  that  the  commission 
had  written  to  make  some  arrangement  for  the  admission 
of  the  students  from  the  synodical  school  into  Yale  College, 
as  the  president  called  for  information  as  to  the  plan  of  the 
school,  and  state  of  the  synod.  This  information  the  answer 
in  question  purports  to  give.  It  states  that  the  synod  had, 
some  years  before,  endeavoured  to  establish  a  school,  but 
were  prevented  by  the  troubles  of  the  time,  especially  by 
the  war  with  Spain;  that  in  the  mean  time,  in  order  to 
secure  a  learned  ministry,  they  had  agreed  that  those  who 
had  not  a  diploma  from  some  college  should  obtain  a  certi- 
ficate of  competent  scholarship  from  the  synod,  before  be- 
ing taken  on  trials  by  any  presbytery.  It  then  briefly 
refers  to  the  opposition  made  to  this  agreement,  and  to  the 
controversies  arising  out  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  preaching, 
and  the  subsequent  schism  in  the  synod.  The  letter  then 
gives  an  account  of  the  school,  and  adds,  that  the  synod 
had  agreed  "  that  after  the  scholars  had  passed  through  the 
course  of  studies  assigned  to  them,  they  shall  be  publicly 
examined  by  the  trustees  and  such  ministers  as  the  synod 
shall  see  fit  to  appoint,  and  if  approved,  shall  receive  testi- 
monials of  their  approbation,  and  without  such  testimonials 
none  of  the  presbyteries  under  the  care  of  the  synod  shall 
improve  any  of  the  scholars  in  the  ministry."  The  writers 
further  express   their   hope  of  obtaining  assistance   from 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  265 

England  and  Ireland  as  soon  as  the  difficulties  which  then 
existed  allowed  of  their  making  the  necessary  application. 
They  profess  their  purpose  to  make  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  their  school  correspond  as  nearly  as  possible  with 
that  pursued  in  the  British  colleges.  They  readily  agreed 
that  their  scholars  in  going  to  Yale,  should  be  examined  by 
the  president  and  fellows,  be  required  to  bring  recommen- 
dations, and  that  they  should  enjoy  no  privileges  incon- 
sistent with  the  good  order  of  the  college.  It  is  not  easy 
to  understand  the  object  of  this  letter,  unless  it  be  assumed 
that  the  statutes  of  Yale  College  required  a  certain  number 
of  years'  residence  before  graduation,  and  that  the  synod 
wished  their  students  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  higher 
classes,  when  found  prepared,  in  order  to  avoid  the  expense 
of  a  protracted  absence  from  their  own  homes.  In  the 
minutes  for  the  year  1747,  there  is  a  notice  of  another  letter 
from  President  Clap,  and  of  a  reply  on  the  part  of  the 
synod,  but  the  contents  of  neither  are  given. 

The  synod  continued  to  watch  over  the  school  with  sedu- 
lous attention,  as  there  is  almost  every  year  some  record 
relating  to  it.  In  1749,  it  was  found  necessary  to  modify 
the  plan  of  gratuitous  instruction.  Mr.  Alison's  salary  was 
increased  to  thirty  pounds,  and  he  was  allowed  to  receive 
the  usual  tuition  fee  from  all  students  whom  the  trustees 
did  not  exempt  from  that  charge.  ^  In  1 751-2,  Mr.  Alison 
removed  to  Philadelphia  to  take  charge  of  the  academy  in 
that  city,  and  when  it  was  erected  into  a  college  he  was 
appointed  the  vice-provost.  Mr.  Alexander  McDowell  was 
appointed  his  successor  in  the  mastership  of  the  synod- 
ical  school.  The  organization  of  the  college  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Alison,  seems  in  a  mea- 
sure to  have  removed  the  necessity  for  a  higher  collegiate 

1  Minutes,  p.  26. 
23 


266  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

institution  under  the  immediate  care  of  the  synod.  That 
college,  though  principally  under  the  control  of  episcopa- 
lians, was  accessible  to  all  denominations,  and  a  large  por- 
tion of  its  officers  and  trustees  have  ever  been  presby- 
terians. 

In  1754,  Mr.  Matthew  Wilson  was  appointed  Mr. 
McDowell's  assistant,  and  teacher  of  languages  in  the 
school,  Mr.  McDowell  "  from  a  sense  of  the  public  good 
continuing  to  teach  logic,  mathematics,  and  natural  and 
moral  philosophy."^  In  1755,  a  collection  of  books  was 
received  from  Dublin,  which  were  sent  "for  the  benefit  of 
public  schools,  the  use  of  students,  and  the  encouragement 
of  learning  in  this  infant  church,  to  be  disposed  of  by  the 
synod  in  the  best  manner  to  answer  these  good  ends."  It 
was  then  agreed  that  these  books  should  "  be  the  founda- 
tion of  a  public  library  under  the  care  of  the  synod."  The 
books  proper  for  the  school  were  to  be  the  property  of  the 
master,  he  giving  security  for  their  safe  keeping  and  return; 
the  others  were  committed  to  the  care  of  the  trustees  of  the 
fund  for  ministers'  widows,  who  were  to  choose  a  librarian 
to  take  charge  of  the  library  for  the  use  of  members  of  the 
synod,  and  for  the  benefit  of  students  of  divinity  in  the 
college  of  Philadelphia.  ^  The  same  year  an  application 
was  made  to  the  trustees  of  the  German  schools  for  assis- 
tance in  the  support  of  the  synodical  school;  the  synod 
engaging  "  to  teach  some  Dutch  children  the  English 
tongue,  and  three  or  four  boys  Latin  and  Greek,  if  they 
offer  themselves;  and  Mr.  Samson  Smith  was  directed  to 
open  the  school  at  Chesnut  Level  so  soon  as  this  favour 
was  received."^  These  German  schools  were  under  the 
patronage  of  a  general  board  in  London,  and  of  a  subordi- 
nate board  in  Philadelphia.     It  was  to  the  latter  that  the 

»  Minutes,  p.  46.  2  Ibid.  p.  51.  ^  Ibid.  p.  65. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  267 

application  of  the  synod  was,  in  the  first  instance,  directed. 
This  application  was  the  more  reasonable,  as  the  synod  had 
for  eleven  years  sustained  the  school  by  their  own  exertions, 
and  offered  its  advantages  gratuitously,  to  the  ^'•outh  of  all 
denominations.  The  request  for  assistance,  therefore,  was 
granted  without  much  hesitation,  as  appears  from  the  fol- 
lowing extract,  from  the  minutes  of  the  board,  communi- 
cated to  the  synod  in  answer  to  their  petition.  "June  14, 
1755;  met  at  Mr.  Allen's  house  near  Germantown  the 
following  trustees,  viz:  Messrs.  Allen,  Peters,  Franklin,  and 
Smith.  And  taking  into  their  consideration  the  aforesaid 
petition  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  were  under  some 
difficulty  how  to  act  concerning  it.  On  the  one  hand  they 
thought  that  to  grant  the  petition  in  favour  of  an  English 
synod  might  give  offence  to  the  Germans,  who  generally 
consider  this  charity  as  intended  for  their  own  particular 
benefit.  The  trustees  were  also  of  opinion,  that  it  did  not 
exactly  fall  under  the  great  design  of  promoting  the  English 
tongue  among  the  Germans.  But  they  considered  on  the 
other  hand,  the  pleas  urged  by  the  petitioners.  They  knew 
it  to  be  a  truth,  that  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  at  a  time 
when  ignorance,  even  among  the  ministry,  was  like  to  over- 
run the  whole  province,  had  begun,  and  with  much  difficulty, 
long  supported  a  public  school  under  Mr.  Francis  Alison; 
and  that  many  able  ministers,  and  some  of  them  Dutch,  had 
been  educated  in  the  said  school.  The  trustees  were  also 
of  opinion  that  it  was  no  small  argument  in  favour  of  the 
petitioners,  that  the  mother  church  of  Scotland  had  contri- 
buted so  largely  to  this  useful  charity,  and  that  if  any  future 
application  to  said  church  should  be  necessary,  the  interest 
and  recommendation  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  might 
be  useful  in  that  respect,  as  well  as  in  countenancing  the 
several  schools  in  their  present  infant  state,  and  educating, 


268  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

according  to  their  proposal,  some  young  men  for  the  Dutch 
ministry  gratis.  In  consideration  of  all  which  it  was  re- 
solved to  grant  twenty-five  pounds  currency  for  one  year 
to  assist  the  said  synod  to  support  their  school  on  the 
following  terms,  viz:  1.  That  it  shall  be  under  the  same 
common  government  with  the  other  free  schools,  and  be 
subject  to  the  visitation  of  the  trustees  general  or  their 
deputies,  appointed  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  synod. 
2.  That  the  master.shall  teach  four  Dutch  or  English  scho- 
lars gratis,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  trustees  general, 
to  be  prepared  for  the  ministy,  and  ten  poor  Dutch  children 
in  the  English  tongue  gratis,  if  so  many  offer.  3.  That  the 
deputy  trustees,  together  with  the  master  and  any  of  the 
clergy,  visit  the  school  at  least  once  a  quarter,  and  send 
down  a  statement  thereof,  to  be  transmitted  by  the  general 
trustees  to  the  honourable  society.  Agreed,  that  this  case 
be  transmitted  to  the  honourable  society  to  obtain  their 
directions  thereupon."  ^ 

The  synod  acceded  to  these  terms  and  appointed  deputy 
trustees  to  visit  the  school  every  quarter.  When  this 
matter  came  before  the  society  in  London,  they  increased 
the  annual  contribution  to  the  synod's  school  from  twenty- 
five  pounds  currency  to  thirty  pounds  sterling.  ^  It  was  thus 
that  the  synod  laboured  diligently  and  successfully  in  pro- 
moting the  cause  of  education.  At  the  synodical  school 
under  Mr.  Alison  and  Mr.  McDowell,  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  ministers  of  the  next  generation,  were 
prepared  for  their  work.  This  school  gave  rise  to  the 
Newark  academy,  which  has  since  been  chartered  as  a 
college. 

The  connexion  between  these  two  institutions,  is  fully 
set  forth  in  the  charter  granted  to  the  Newark  academy  in 

1  Minutes,  p,  66.  "  Ibid.  p.  71. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  269 

1769,  by  Thomas  and  Richard  Penn.  "  Whereas  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  John  Thompson,  Adam  Boyd,  Robert  Cross,  Fran- 
cis Alison,  Alexander  McDowell,  and  some  others,  about 
twenty  years  since,  erected  a  public  school  in  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  learned 
languages,  mathematics,  and  other  branches  of  useful  lite- 
rature, and  to  qualify  them  for  admission  into  colleges  and 
universities;  which  school  they  supported  with  much  care 
and  expense,  to  the  great  advantage  and  benefit  of  the 
public:  And  whereas,  the  said  school,  so  as  aforesaid, 
originally  in  the  province  of  Pennsylvania,  hath  been 
removed  and  is  now  kept  in  the  town  of  Newark,  in  the 
county  of  Newcastle;  and  whereas,  &c.^' 

In  one  of  the  preceding  extracts,  mention  is  made  of  the 
trustees  of  the  fund  for  ministers'  widows.  As  the  institu- 
tion here  referred  to  still  exists,  and  is  one  in  which  many 
of  our  clergy  are  interested,  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
introduce  a  brief  account  of  its  origin.  In  1754,  "a.  pro- 
posal was  introduced  by  Mr.  Alison  for  laying  some  plan 
for  the  support  of  ministers'  widows,"  and  a  committee  was 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  who  made  a  report  to  the 
synod,  when  it  was  agreed,  "  in  order  to  complete  the  plan, 
and  to  carry  it  into  full  execution,  that  each  presbytery 
should  choose  a  minister  to  represent  them,  and  send  by 
him  their  several  quotas  to  the  fund;  and  this  representation 
when  met,  shall  put  the  stock  into  the  hands  of  appointed 
trustees,  and  fix  the  proper  regulation  of  it."  ^  The  plan 
thus  formed  was  reported  to  the  synod  the  following  year 
and  finally  adopted.  It  provided  that  each  subscriber 
might  pay  two  or  three  pounds  annually;  that  all  future 
members  of  the  synod,  or  candidates  for  the  ministry  might 
join  the  association;  that  the  subscription  of  any  member 

1  Minutes,  pp.  46,  47. 

23* 


270  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

might  be  changed  from  two  to  three  pounds,  provided  he 
made  up  the  difference  from  the  beginning;  that  the  annu- 
ity payable  to  the  widows  or  children  of  deceased  members, 
should  be  five  pounds,  or  seven  pounds  ten  shillings,  accord- 
ing as  the  subscription  had  been  two  or  three  pounds;  that 
should  a  member  die  before  he  had  made  five  annual  pay- 
ments, one  half  of  the  annuity  due  to  his  representatives 
should  be  deducted  until  these  deductions,  together  with 
the  payments  made,  amounted  to  the  sum  of  five  annual 
subscriptions;  that  the  annuity  should  be  payable  to  the 
widow  for  life,  to  the  children  for  twelve  years;  that 
nothing  beyond  the  annuities  was  to  be  paid,  until  the 
capital  amounted  to  eight  hundred  pounds  for  every  twenty 
members:  after  that  the  profits  might  be  divided  among  the 
annuitants.  ^  The  following  year  application  was  made  for 
a  charter,  which  was  ultimately  obtained  and  has  been  the 
means  of  perpetuating  an  institution  which  has  been  the 
source  of  incalculable  benefits  to  many  widows  and  or- 
phans. 

As  the  principal  object  of  this  history  is  to  exhibit  the 
constitution  of  our  church  as  to  doctrine  and  order,  it  would 
here  be  in  place  to  state,  whatever  might  throw  any  light 
on  either  of  these  points.  As  far  as  doctrine,  however,  is 
concerned,  there  was  nothing  in  the  action  of  the  synod  of 
Philadelphia  during  the  schism  of  any  particular  interest. 
There  was  no  controversy  on  the  subject;  no  acts  of  disci- 
pline for  erroneous  opinions,  and  no  new  measures  adopted 
with  a  design  to  uphold  the  standards  of  the  church.     The 

1  The  original  members  of  this  association  were  Francis  Alison,  Adam 
Boyd,  Francis  McHenry,  Alexander  McDowell,  John  Steel,  John  Kinkead, 
William  McKennan,  John  Elder,  Samson  Smith,  Richard  Sanchey,  Robert 
McMurdie,  Joseph  Tate,  Hector  Alison,  Matthew  Wilson,  William  Donald- 
son, and  George  Gillespie. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  271 

only  exception  to  this  remark  is,  a  resolution  adopted 
immediately  after  the  schism  to  the  following  effect,  viz: 
"  That  every  member  of  this  synod,  whether  minister  or 
elder,  does  sincerely  and  heartily  receive,  own,  acknow- 
ledge, or  subscribe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  as  the  confession  of  his 
faith,  and  the  Directory,  as  far  as  circumstances  will  allow 
and  admit  in  this  infant  church,  for  the  rule  of  church 
order.  Ordered  that  every  session  do  oblige  their  elders  to 
do  the  same  at  their  admission.  This  was  readily  approved, 
nemine  contradicenteJ'  ^  Hitherto  the  adoption  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  had  been  required  only  of  ministers. 
It  was  now  required  of  Elders,  and  that  with  evident  pro- 
priety. They  are  entitled  as  members  of  presbytery,  to  sit 
in  judgment  on  the  doctrinal  knowledge  of  candidates  for 
ordination,  and  on  the  orthodoxy  of  ministers.  This  regu- 
lation, therefore,  still  continues  a  part  of  the  constitution  of 
the  church. 

As  it  regards  matters  of  government,  the  Westminster 
Directory  continued  to  be  the  general  standard.  The  ses- 
sions governed  the  congregations  subject  to  the  review  and 
control  of  the  presbyteries;  this  presbyteries  governed  their 
own  members,  and  received  appeals  and  references  from 
the  sessions,  subject  to  the  review  and  control  of  the  synod; 
and  the  synod  received  appeals  and  references  from  the 
presbyteries,  and  took  care  that  the  constitution  was  every- 
where observed.  Agreeably,  however,  to  the  Scottish  and 
French  principle,  that  a  synod  is  a  larger  presbytery,  and 
may  properly  perform  all  presbyterial  acts,  when  occasion 
calls  for  it,  we  find  the  synod  during  this  period  as  well  as 
before  the  schism,  frequently  acting  more  or  less  distinctly 
in  a  presbyterial  capacity.     Thus  in  1741,  the  name  of  the 

'  Minutes,  vol.  ii.  p.  75. 


272  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Rev.  Mr.  Stevenson  was  struck  from  the  roll,  or  he  was 
disowned  as  a  member,  without  the  intervention  of  a  pres- 
bytery, because,  as  the  synod  say,  he  had  "  from  time  to 
time,  for  years  past,  neglected  attending  on  our  judicatures, 
also  had  omitted  his  ministry  without  giving  us  any  reason 
for  his  said  conduct."  ^  This  suspension,  however,  was 
only  until  he  should  appear  before  synod,  "  and  give  an 
account  of  his  proceedings."  In  1749,  we  find  Mr.  Cross 
requesting  supplies  from  the  synod  for  his  congregation, 
"until  it  please  God  to  restore  his  health."  Supplies  were 
accordingly  appointed  for  several  sabbaths,  and  Mr.  Cross 
and  his  congregation  allowed  "  discretionary  power  to  invite 
any  other  of  the  brethren  until  the  commission  met  in  the 
fall."^  In  1754,  he  was  again  obliged  to  seek  assistance, 
and  it  was  "  ordered  that  Mr.  Cross  or  Mr.  Alison  have 
allowance  to  write  to  any  minister,  to  come  and  preach  two 
sabbaths  at  any  time  during  Mr.  Cross's  sickness."  In 
1751,  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Evans  was  referred  to 
the  synod  for  advice,  but  they  took  it  up  and  issued  it  by 
declaring  "That  Mr.  Evans  having  acted  disorderly  in 
dissolving  the  pastoral  relation  between  himself  and  his 
people,  having  travelled  to  England  again  and  again,  with- 
out any  certificates  by  way  of  recommendation  to  the 
churches  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  having  in  other 
things  acted,  from  time  to  time,  in  a  manner  unsuitable  to 
his  character  as  a  minister,  we  disown  him  as  a  member  of 
this  synod  until  he  give  us  satisfaction  by  a  return  to  his 
duty,  and  amend  his  life  and  conduct."  ^ 

In  1753,  a  minister  from  Ireland,  who  had  been  censured 
by  the  presbytery  in  his  own  country,  applied  directly  to 
the  synod  to  be  allowed  to  preach  in  their  congregations. 
This  application  was   refused.  "^     Three  years  afterwards, 

I  Minutes,  vol.  ii.  p.  74.      2  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  2G.      3  Ibid.  p.  30.      -i  Ibid.  p.  44. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  273 

however,  an  application  was  made  by  a  particular  congre- 
gation for  his  services,  to  which  the  synod  replied,  "  that 
they  found  it  necessary  to  wait  until  they  received  an  an- 
swer from  the  synod  in  Ireland;  but  resolved,  that  as  he 
had  offered  satisfaction  to  that  synod  by  our  mediation,  and 
had  behaved  himself  so  as  to  be  well  approved  as  a  minis- 
ter among  us,  if  either  the  synod  of  Ireland  send  us  no 
answer,  or  inform  us  that  they  have  accepted  his  submis- 
sion, we  do  order  Messrs.  Black  and  Craig  to  receive  him 
as  a  member,  and  install  him;  provided  they  find  his  con- 
duct in  that  part  of  Christ's  vineyard  such  as  becomes  a 
gospel  minister."  ^  This  appointment  for  some  reason  was 
not  fulfilled,  as  the  following  year  "a  supplication  was 
received  from  Cook's  Creek,  and  Peeked  Mountain,  request- 
ing that  we  would  receive  Mr.  Alexander  Miller  as  a  mem- 
ber, and  that  at  his  installation  he  be  appointed  as  their 
pastor  in  the  Lord.  The  synod,  it  is  added,  unanimously 
agreed  to  receive  him  as  a  member,  and  ordered  that  Mr. 
Craig  instal  him  sometime  before  the  first  of  August  next."  ^ 
All  this  was  done  without  the  intervention  of  a  presby- 
tery. 

The  way  in  which  the  synod  most  frequently  interfered 
in  the  immediate  government  of  the  churches,  was  by  the 
appointment  of  correspondents  to  sit  with  a  presbytery, 
either  with  or  without  their  previous  consent.  Thus,  in 
1752,  a  petition,  apparently  from  a  church  member,  was 
received  and  referred  "  to  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  toge- 
ther with  Messrs.  McDowell,  Cathcart,  Griffiths,  and  Steel, 
as  correspondents  from  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  to 
meet  at  Octarara  the  second  Tuesday  in  August;  and  it 

'  Minutes,  p.  59. 

2  Ibid.  p.  63.  The  place  of  Mr.  Miller's  settlement  was  in  Rockingham 
county,  twenty-five  miles  from  Staunton. 


274  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

was  ordered,  that  Mr.  Boyd's  session  give  notice  to  all 
parties  concerned."  ^ 

In  1753,  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  "applied  to  the 
synod,  that  whereas  Mr.  Hector  Alison  had  laid  certain 
grievances  before  them,  and  sued  for  a  dismission  from  his 
pastoral  charge ;  and  as  the  affair  appeared  to  be  of  great 
importance,  and  required  a  final  decision  at  their  next 
meeting,  they  humbly  requested  that  the  synod  would  join 
some  of  the  other  members  out  of  the  other  presbyteries 
with  them,  to  judge  of  that  affair,  and  that  said  presbytery, 
with  said  correspondents,  be  appointed  to  act  as  a  commis- 
sion of  the  synod,  and  in  that  capacity  judge  that  affair. 
The  synod,"  it  is  added,  "'  granted  the  request,  and  accord- 
ingly appointed  Messrs.  Boyd,  Tate,  and  Smith,  to  meet 
with  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
August  next,  at  New  London,  for  that  purpose,  and  fur- 
ther, enjoined  the  said  presbytery  to  give  timely  notice  to 
Mr.  Alison's  congregation  of  the  design  of  the  said  meet- 
ing." ^ 

Some  misunderstanding  having  occurred  between  the 
presbyteries  of  Philadelphia  and  Newcastle  as  to  whose 
duty  it  was  to  ordain  Mr.  Kinkead,  neither  finding  it  con- 
venient to  attend,  the  synod  decided,  "  that,  inasmuch  as 
the  congregations  of  the  Great  Valley  and  Norrington,  pro- 
perly belong  to  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  that  the  said 
presbytery  should  attend  the  trials  and  ordination  of  Mr. 
Kinkead,  and  lest  a  delay  might  be  occasioned  by  the  pau- 
city and  distance  of  the  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, Mr.  Cathcart,  (of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,) 
was  ordered  to  correspond  with  the  said  presbytery  as  an 
assistant."  3  Upon  an  application  from  the  presbytery  of 
Newcastle,  in  1754,  it  was  "ordered,  that  Messrs.  Boyd 

I  Minutes,  p.  40.  2  Ibid.  p.  43.  3  Ibid.  p.  44. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  0^7^ 

and  Smith  sit  with  them  until  the  next  meeting  of  the 
synod,  and  be  excused  from  attending  Donegal  presbytery 
further  than  they  think  it  convenient;  and  that  Mr.  Kin- 
kead  correspond  with  them  in  August  next."  ^ 

The  synod  in  the  exercise  of  its  supervisory  care  over 
the  churches,  and  its  own  members,  frequently  insisted 
upon  a  more  punctual  attendance  upon  its  own  meetings. 
In  1746,  it  is  recorded,  "that  the  synod  finding  several  of 
their  ministers  absent,  from  year  to  year,  and  particularly, 
some  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  cannot  look 
upon  such  conduct  otherwise  than  as  irregular  and  of  dan- 
gerous consequences;  and  do  therefore  order  that  every 
presbytery  inform  their  respective  members  thereof,  and 
that  the  synod  expects  some  reasons  of  such  absence,  and 
better  attendance  hereafter."  2     a  similar  order,  in  refer- 
ence  to  the  distant  members  in  Virginia,  was  made  in  1747; 
and,  in  1748,  it  was  ordered,  "that  the  presbytery  of  Done- 
gal write  to  Virginia,  to  let  the  ministers  know  that  we 
expect  one  of  their  members  yearly  to  attend  the  synod, 
that  we  may  know  the  state  of  the  churches."  ^     In  1754 
"it  was  observed,  that  Messrs.  Black  and   Craig  have 
neglected  attending  on  the   synod  for  some  considerable 
time,  and  it  was  ordered  that  Mr.  McDowell  write  to  those 
brethren,  and  signify  to  them  that  the  synod  expects  that 
they  either  attend  or  write;  and  that,  in  case  of  failure,  the 
synod  will  be  obliged  to  disown  them  as  members."  •» 

Whenever  any  infraction  of  the  constitution  occurred, 
the  synod  were  in  the  habit  of  interposing  to  censure  or 
rectify  the  irregularity.  In  1752,  "the  synod  having  deli- 
berately considered  the  affair  of  Mr.  Alison's  removal  to 
Philadelphia,  referred  to  them  by  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, judged  that  the  method  he  used  is  contrary  to  the 

'  Minutes,  p.  46.  2  Ibid.  p.  14.  3  ibid.  p.  21.  4  Ibid.  p.  63. 


276  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

presbyterian  plan ;  yet,  considering  that  the  circumstances 
which  urged  him  to  take  the  method  he  used,  were  very 
pressing,  and  that  it  was  indeed  almost  impracticable  for 
him  to  apply  for  the  consent  of  presbytery  or  synod  in 
the  ordinary  way;  and  further,  being  persuaded  that  Mr. 
Alison's  being  employed  in  such  a  station  in  the  academy 
has  a  favourable  aspect  in  several  respects,  and  a  very  pro- 
bable tendency  not  only  to  promote  the  good  of  the  public, 
but  also  of  the  church,  as  he  may  be  serviceable  to  the 
interests  thereof  in  teaching  philosophy  or  divinity,  as  far 
as  his  obligations  to  the  academy  permit;  we  judge  his 
proceedings  in  the  said  affair,  are  in  a  good  measure  ex- 
cusable. Withal  the  synod  advises  that,  for  the  future  its 
members  be  very  cautious,  and  guard  against  such  pro- 
ceedings as  are  contrary  to  our  known  and  approved 
methods  in  such  cases."  ^ 

It  appears  from  the  minutes  for  1755,  that  some  sessions 
had  refused  to  allow  the  annual  collections  to  be  taken  up 
in  their  churches:  whereupon  the  synod  resolved,  "  that  as 
it  is  a  synodical  appointment  it  is  inconsistent  with  our 
church  government  to  be  under  the  check  of  a  church  ses- 
sion. They,  indeed,  may  give  or  withhold  their  charity, 
but  may  not  prevent  a  minister  from  proposing  it  publicly 
according  to  our  appointment.  Ordered,  likewise,  that 
every  presbytery  take  care  of  the  conduct  of  their  mem- 
bers, how  they  observe  this  appointm.ent  previous  to  their 
coming  to  the  synod,  and  that  they  gather  the  collection 
from  absent  members."  ^ 

Not  unfrequently  the  synod  was  called  upon  to  decide 

casuistical  questions.     For  example,  a  young  man  having 

promised  marriage  to  a  young  woman,  was  desirous  to  be 

freed  from  his  engagement,  but  the  young  woman,  though 

1  Minutes,  p.  41.  2  ibid.  p.  49. 


IX    THE    UNITED    STATES.  O^^ 

willing  to  release  him,  scrupled  the  lawfulness  of  doing 
so.  The  question  was,  therefore,  submitted  to  the  synod, 
"Whether  a  single  man  and  woman  having  promised  mar- 
riage to  each  other,  may  lawfully  agree  again  to  release 
each  other  from  the  promise?  and  after  mature  considera- 
tion the  synod  resolved  the  case,  that  it  was  lawful:  nemine 
contradicenteP  The  young  man  in  question,  however, 
was  called  before  the  synod,  and  publicly  rebuked,  in  order, 
as  it  is  said,  "  to  show  our  detestation  of  such  rash  pro- 
ceedings." ^ 

In  1751,  the  question  came  up  from  the  session  of  the 
church  at  Neshaminy,  by  a  reference  from  the  presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  Whether  a  young  man  to  whom  an  illegi- 
timate child  had  been  imputed  upon  the  oath  of  the  mother, 
but  who  denied  the  charge,  and  in  a  civil  trial  had  been 
acquitted  by  a  jury,  might  be  admitted  to  church  privileges? 
It  was  decided  that  he  might. 

In  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  the  marriage  of  a  man 
with  a  niece  of  his  former  wife  was  declared  null  and  void, 
and  separation  and  confession  of  sin  enjoined.  2  That  pres- 
bytery was  in  the  habit  of  pronouncing  divorces,  as  far  as 
marriage  was  a  religious  bond,  referring  the  parties,  how- 
ever, to  the  civil  authorities  for  the  dissolution  of  the  civil 
contract  between  them. 

The  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  as  already 
stated,  was  a  season  of  great  uneasiness  and  distress.  In 
Pennsylvania  there  was  almost  a  continued  controversy 
between  the  assembly  and  the  proprietary  government, 
which  operated  greatly  to  the  injury  of  the  colony,  which 
was  at  the  same  time  the  theatre  of  many  of  the  disasters 
attending  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  To  these  events 
repeated  allusion  is  made  in  the  proceedings  of  the  synod. 

'  Minutes,  p.  28.  2  Minutes  of  Donegal,  p,  1G5. 

24 


278  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

In  1755,  it  is  recorded,  "the  synod  having  taken  into  con- 
sideration the  prevaiUng  iniquity  which  abounds  in  our 
land,  and  the  many  tokens  of  the  Divine  displeasure  we  are 
under,  being  threatened  with  a  dangerous  war,  left  to 
manifold  divisions  and  confusions  in  church  and  state,  and 
the  rain  from  heaven  restrained,  to  the  great  damage  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth;  do,  therefore  agree,  that  the  12tli 
day  of  June  be  observed  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  humilia- 
tion through  all  our  bounds,  to  bewail  our  sins  and  the  sins 
of  our  land,  to  deprecate  the  divine  displeasure  which  we 
deserve,  and  implore  God  to  remove  these  tokens  of  his 
anger,  and  save  us  from  the  strokes  we  now  feel,  fear,  and 
deserve."  ^ 

Again,  in  1757,  it  is  said,  "  the  synod  having  taken  under 
serious  consideration  the  melancholy  state  of  the  British 
dominions,  and  of  their  allies,  the  danger  of  the  protestant 
interest  in  general,  and  particularly  of  the  English  colonies 
of  America,  arising  from  the  formidable  combination  of 
antichristian  powers  in  Europe,  and  the  shocking  depreda- 
tions and  barbarities  of  the  heathen  on  our  borders,  influ- 
enced and  abetted  by  the  perfidious,  restless  enemies  of  our 
civil  and  religious  liberties;  as  also  the  abounding  profanity 
and  wickedness  of  all  ranks  and  degrees  of  men;  the  awful 
contempt  cast  upon  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ,  not  only 
by  the  professed  infidelity  of  its  open  adversaries,  but  also 
by  the  unbelief,  hypocrisy,  and  uncharitableness,  and  loose 
practices  of  its  professed  friends;  and  being  deeply  sensible 
of,  and  aff'ected  with,  the  ungrateful  abuse  and  misimprove- 
ment  of  the  many  privileges  we  have  enjoyed;  our  peace, 
plenty,  and  liberty  having  been  turned  into  wantonness, 
pride,  and  licentiousness;  and  being  firmly  persuaded  that 
for  these  things  God  is  testifying  his  displeasure  against  us, 

•  Minutes,  p,  52. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  279 

both  at  home  and  abroad,  by  a  calamitous  war,  in  which 
we  are  involved,  while  an  amazing  insensibility  generally 
prevails  under  the  present  gloomy  appearances  of  divine 
Providence,  and  a  want  of  public  spirit  and  zeal  for  the 
common  good,  do,  for  these  and  the  like  reasons,  recom- 
mend the  twenty-third  day  of  June  next  to  be  observed  by 
the  people  belonging  to  the  synod,  as  a  day  of  public  humi- 
liation, fasting,  and  prayer,  throughout  their  bounds,  to 
bewail  our  aggravated  and  crying  sins,  to  deprecate  the 
deserved  wrath  of  heaven,  and  to  implore  the  divine  mercy 
and  forgiveness,  that  the  Spirit  of  grace  may  be  poured 
out  upon  us,  that  as  a  people  we  may  turn  unto  the  Lord 
by  a  sincere  repentance;  that  God  woidd  preserve  and  bless 
our  gracious  king,  direct  his  counsels,  go  forth  with  his 
fleets  and  armies,  also  with  those  of  his  allies,  and  crown 
them  with  success;  that  he  would  guard  and  defend  our 
sea-coasts  and  frontiers  against  all  the  designs  of  our  ene- 
mies; that  he  would  preserve  to  us  our  invaluable  liberties, 
both  civil  and  religious;  that  he  would  yet  bless  us  with 
fruitful  seasons,  mercifully  heal  our  divisions,  and  cause  our 
present  confusions  happily  to  terminate  in  the  glorious 
advancement  of  the  peaceful  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Accordingly,  it  is  ordered,  that  our  ministers  repre- 
sent these  things  to  the  people  under  our  care,  and  excite 
them  to  these  solemn  exercises;  and,  for  that  end,  suit  their 
sermons  and  prayers  on  that  day  to  the  important  occa- 
sion." ' 

SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Immediately  after  the  schism  in  1741,  as  stated  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter,  the  brethren  excluded  from  the  synod  of 

'  Minutes,  p.  67. 


280  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Philadelphia,  formed  themselves  into  two  presbyteries, 
those  of  New  Brunswick  and  of  Londonderry,  afterwards 
called  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  and  resolved  to  meet 
annually  as  a  synod.  This  they  did,  though  under  the 
designation  of  "conjunct  presbytery."  The  name  synod 
was  not  assumed  until  the  presbytery  of  New  York  united 
with  these  brethren  in  the  formation  of  the  synod  of  New 
York,  which  met  for  the  first  time  at  Elizabethtown,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1745.  There  were  twenty-two  ministers  pre- 
sent at  that  meeting.  ^  The  ministers  and  elders  thus  assem- 
bled "  considered  and  agreed  upon  the  following  articles  as 
the  plan  and  foundation  of  their  synodical  union." 

"1.  They  agree  that  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  be  the 
public  confession  of  their  faith,  in  such  manner  as  was 
agreed  unto  by  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1729, 
and  to  be  inserted  in  the  latter  end  of  this  book.  ^  And 
they  declare  their  approbation  of  the  Directory  of  the 
assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  as  the  general  plan  of 
worship  and  discipline. 

"  2.  They  agree  that  in  matters  of  discipline,  and  in  those 
things  that  relate  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of  our 
churches,  they  shall  be  determined  according  to  the  major 
vote  of  the  ministers  and  elders;  with  which  vote  every 
member  shall  actively  concur  or  pacifically  acquiesce;  but 

1  To  wit,  Messrs.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  John  Pierson,  Ebenezer  Pemberton, 
Simon  Horton,  Aaron  Burr,  Azariah  Horton,  Timothy  Jones,  Eliab  By  ram, 
and  Robert  Sturgeon,  of  the  presbytery  of  New  York;  Messrs.  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent,  Joseph  Lamb,  William  Tennent,  Richard  Treat,  James  McCrea,  Wil- 
liam  Robinson,  David  Youngs,  Charles  Beatty,  and  Charles  McKnight,  of  the 
presbytery  of  New  Brunswick;  Messrs.  Samuel  Blair,  Samuel  Finly,  Charles 
Tennent,  and  John  Blair,  of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle. 

2  The  act  adopting  the  Confession  of  Faith,  passed  in  1729,  is  accordingly 
to  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the  synodical  minutes,  p.  1. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  281 

if  any  member  cannot  in  conscience  agree  to  the  determi- 
nation of  the  majority,  but  supposes  himself  obHged  to  act 
contrary  thereunto,  and  the  synod  think  themselves  obliged 
to  insist  upon  it  as  essentially  necessary  to  the  well-being 
of  our  churches,  in  that  case,  such  dissenting  member  pro- 
mises peaceably  to  withdraw  from  the  body,  without 
endeavouring  to  raise  any  dispute  or  contention  upon  the 
debated  point,  or  any  unjust  alienation  of  affection  from 
them. 

"  3.  If  any  member  of  their  body  supposes  that  he  has 
any  thing  to  object  against  any  of  his  brethren,  with  respect 
to  error  in  doctrine,  immorality  in  life,  or  negligence  in  his 
ministry,  he  shall  not,  on  any  account,  propagate  the  scan- 
dal, until  the  person  objected  against  is  dealt  with  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  gospel,  and  the  known  methods  of  their 
discipline. 

"4.  They  agree  that  all  who  have  a  competent  degree 
of  ministerial  knowledge,  are  orthodox  in  their  doctrine, 
regular  in  their  life,  and  diligent  in  their  endeavours  to 
promote  the  important  designs  of  vital  godliness,  and  that 
will  submit  to  their  discipline,  shall  be  cheerfully  admitted 
into  their  communion.  And  they  do  also  agree,  that  in 
order  to  avoid  all  divisive  methods  among  their  ministers 
and  congregations,  and  to  strengthen  the  discipline  of 
Christ  in  the  churches  in  these  parts,  they  will  maintain  a 
correspondence  with  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  this  their 
first  meeting,  by  appointing  two  of  their  members  to  meet 
the  said  synod  of  Philadelphia  at  their  next  convention, 
and  to  concert  with  them  such  measures  as  may  best  pro- 
mote the  precious  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  these 
parts.  And  that  they  may,  in  no  respect,  encourage  any 
factious,  separating  practices  or  principles,  they  agree  that 
they  will  not  intermeddle  with  judicially  hearing  the  com- 

24* 


282  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

plaints,  or  with  supplying  with  ministers  or  candidates 
such  parties  of  men,  as  shall  separate  from  any  presbyte- 
rian  or  congregational  churches,  that  are  not  within  their 
bounds,  unless  the  matters  in  controversy  be  submitted  to 
their  jurisdiction  by  both  parties."  ^ 

No  one  at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  schism 
can  fail  to  remark  that  these  articles  were  intended  to  guard 
against  the  occurrence  of  a  similar  unhappy  division.  The 
principal  ostensible  causes  of  the  rupture,  were  disregarding 
the  acts  of  synod,  the  public  denunciation  of  ministers  in 
good  standing,  and  the  dividing  of  congregations.  As  to 
all  these  points,  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  and  his  immediate 
friends,  had  ever  been  in  a  small  minority.  It  was  their 
zeal  for  practical  religion,  and  not  their  conduct  in  the 
matters  just  specified,  which  was  the  ground  of  sympathy 
between  them  and  their  numerous  associates  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  synod.  There  is  little  doubt  that  Mr.  Ten- 
nent assented  to  these  articles  as  readily  as  any  man;  for 
it  was  only  on  the  ground  of  the  extraordinary  circum- 
stances of  the  limes,  that  he  justified  his  occasional  disre- 
gard of  the  principles  which  they  contain. 

This  synod  founded  upon  the  above  truly  presbyterian 
and  Christian  principles,  and  embracing  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  most  fervent  and  able  men  in  the  church,  rapidly 
increased  in  numbers  and  influence.  In  1746,  we  find  the 
following  names  of  ministers  who  were  not  present  at  the 
preceding  meeting,  John  Roan,  John  Bostwick,  Thomas 
Arthur,  John  Grant,  Andrew  Hunter,  David  Brainerd, 
William  Dean,  Eleazer  Wales.  ^     In   1747,  the  following 

'  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  pp.  2 — 4. 

2  Mr.  Wales  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  therefore,  that  a  minister  was  received 
into  the  synod,  the  year  his  name  first  happens  to  appear  on  the  minutes. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  283 

new  names  occur:  Jacob  Green,  Nathaniel  Tucker,  James 
Campbell,  James  Davenport,  Daniel  Laurence,  Samuel 
Sackett,  Timothy  Sims,  Alexander  Hutcheson,  and  Samuel 
Davies;  in  174S,  Job  Prudden,  Thomas  Lewis,  and  An- 
drew Sterling;  in  1749,  John  Rodgers,  Aaron  Richards, 
Caleb  Smith,  Silas  Leonard,  Charles  McKnight,  ^  and  the 
whole  presbytery  of  Suflblk,  Long  Island.  That  presby- 
tery applied  the  preceding  year  to  be  taken  into  commu- 
nion with  synod,  and  requested  to  be  permitted  to  attend 
by  delegates.  This  the  synod  declined,  but  offered  to 
receive  them  upon  the  same  terms  as  they  did  other  pres- 
byteries. This  was  acceded  to,  and  Messrs.  Ebenezer 
Prime  and  James  Brown  took  their  seats  as  members  of 
synod  in  1749.  The  absent  members  of  the  presbytery  of 
Suffolk,  as  then  constituted,  as  far  as  can  be  gathered  from 
the  minutes,  were  Silvanus  White,  Samuel  Buel,  and 
Naphtali  Dagget.  In  1750,  the  new  members  reported 
were  Timothy  Allen,  Israel  Read,  John  Brainard,  Elihu 
Spencer,  Daniel  Thane,  and  Enos  Ay  res;  in  1751,  John 
Moffat,  Chauncey  Graham,  Samuel  Kennedy,  Benjamin 
Chesnut,  Alexander  Cummings,  Jonathan  Elmore,  John 
Campbell,  John  Todd,  and  Hugh  Henry;  in  1752,  Conrad 
Wurtz,  Robert  Smith,  and  James  Finly;  in  1753,  Evander 
Morrison,  Samuel  Harker,  Alexander  Creaghead,  (who,  it 
seems,  had  left  the  Seceders  and  returned  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church.)  Joseph  Park,  and  Robert  Henry;  in  1754, 
John  Smith,  Nehemiah  Greenman,  Henry  Martin,  John 
Maltby,  Eliphalet  Ball,  and  John  Wright;  in  1755,  Hugh 
Knox,  John  Brown,  and  John  Hoge;  in  1756,  Nathaniel 
Whitaker,  Benjamin  Halt,  Benjamin  Talmage,  Abner 
Reeves,  Moses  Tuttle,  and  John  Harris;  in  1757,  William 

'  Mr.  McKnight's  name  does  not  occur  on  the  books  of  the  synod  before 
1749,  though  he  was  ordamed  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  in  1744. 


284  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Ramsay,  George  Duffield,  and  Hugh  Mc Adams;  in  1758, 
Abraham  Kettletas.  The  whole  number  of  mhiisters  re- 
ported as  in  connexion  with  the  synod  in  1758,  the  year  in 
which  the  union  with  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  took  place, 
was  seventy  two. 

In  the  history  of  this  synod,  the  first  subject  to  be  con- 
sidered is  their  missionary  labours.  In  1745,  at  their  first 
meeting,  the  circumstances  of  Virginia  were  brought  before 
them,  and  the  opinion  unanimously  expressed  that  Mr. 
Robinson  was  the  proper  person  to  visit  that  colony.  He  was 
accordingly  earnestly  pressed  to  go  and  spend  some  months 
there.  ^  Mr.  Robinson  ha.d  already,  as  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  preached  in  Virginia  with  great  acceptance 
and  success  in  1743,  having  been  sent  thither  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick.  In  1746,  a  supplication  for  a 
minister  was  presented  to  the  synod  from  Hanover,  in  Vir- 
ginia, which  was  referred  to  the  presbyteries  of  Newcastle 
and  New  Brunswick.  Before  Mr.  Robinson's  visit  to  Vir- 
ginia, in  1743,  besides  the  numerous  presbyterian  emi- 
grants who  had  settled  in  what  were  then  the  western 
portions  of  the  colony,  there  were  four  or  five  families  in 
Hanover,  who  had  separated  from  the  established  church, 
and  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  public  worship  among 
themselves.  For  this  little  company  Mr.  Robinson  preached 
repeatedly  during  a  stay  of  four  days  in  their  neighbour- 
hood. After  his  departure  they  made  repeated  applica- 
tions for  supplies  to  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  who  sent 
them  several  ministers  at  different  times  during  four  years, 
who  stayed  with  them  two  or  three  sabbaths  at  a  time. 
During  this  period  they  were  also  visited  by  Messrs.  G. 
and  W.  Tennent  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick, 
The  number  of  dissenters  in  and  about  Hanover  had,  by 

1  Minutes,  p.  4. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  285 

this  time,  so  much  increased,  that  in  1747,  when  Mr. 
Davies  was  first  sent  to  them  by  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, in  compliance  with  their  earnest  request,  he  "  found 
them  sufficiently  numerous  to  form  one  very  large  congre- 
gation or  two  small  ones;  and  they  had  built  five  meeting- 
houses, three  in  Hanover,  one  in  Henrico,  and  one  in 
Louisa  county."!  They  presented  a  most  earnest  call 
before  the  presbytery  for  Mr.  Davies  to  settle  among  them 
as  their  pastor,  which  he  accepted  in  1748.  The  labours 
of  this  eminent  man  "  were  very  successful  in  every  part 
of  the  country  where  he  itinerated,  much  more  so  than  he 
supposed;  for  to  this  day,  (1799,)  we  find  many  seals  of  his 
ministry  scattered  up  and  down  the  country  wherever  he 
preached;  and  there  are  few  congregations  in  this  presby- 
tery, (Hanover,)  that  may  not  acknowledge  that  he  was  in 
a  great  measure  their  founder."  ^ 

In  1748,  the  synod  sent  Mr.  Gumming  to  Augusta 
county,  and  Mr.  Hunter  to  the  lower  counties  in  Virginia, 
to  spend  four  sabbaths.  ^  In  1749,  Mr.  Davenport  was 
directed  to  visit  Virginia,  and  in  1750,  the  presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick  was  urged  to  send  Mr.  Todd,  and  the 
presbytery  of  New  York  Messrs.  Syms  and  Greenman  to 
the  same  field  of  labour.  The  synod  also  renewed  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Davenport.  In  1751,  «  the  distressing 
circumstances  of  Virginia,"  were  again  brought  before  the 
synod,  who  appointed  Mr.  Greenman  to  go  there  and 
supply  the  congregations  for  some  time.  The  same  year 
INIr.  Davies  requested,  that  an  account  relating  to  the  dis- 
senting interests  in  Virginia,  should  be  sent  to  England, 

'  See  letter  of  Mr.  Davies  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  dated,  January  10, 
1752,  printed  in  the  Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  Review,  for  April' 
1840. 

MS.  History.  3  Minutes,  p.  12. 


286  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

and  Messrs.  Burr  and  Pemberton  were  appointed  to  pre- 
pare a  representation  of  the  circumstances  of  the  presby- 
terian  congregations  in  that  colony,  to  be  forwarded  to 
Drs.  Doddridge  and  Avery.  ^ 

-As  the  Church  of  England  was  early  established  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  presbyterians  were  there  legally  in  the  position 
of  dissenters.  The  colonial  assembly  had  passed  a  law 
adopting  the  English  toleration  act  as  a  law  of  the  colony. 
It  was  on  this  ground,  and  not  on  that  of  its  original  enact- 
ment, that  Mr.  Davies  and  other  presbyterians  recognised 
its  authority  and  complied  with  its  provisions.  This  is 
distinctly  stated  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Davies  to  Dr.  Avery 
of  London,  dated,  May  21,  1752.  "I  am  fully  satisfied," 
he  says,  "  that,  as  you  intimate,  the  act  of  uniformity  and 
other  penal  laws  against  non-conformity,  are  not  in  force 
in  the  colonies;  and  consequently  that  the  dissenters  have 
no  right,  nor  indeed  any  need  to  plead  the  act  of  toleration 
as  an  exemption  from  those  penal  laws.  But,  Sir,  our 
legislature  here  has  passed  an  act  of  the  same  kind  with 
those  laws,  (though  the  penalty  is  less,)  requiring  all  adult 
persons  to  attend  on  the  established  church.  As  this  act 
was  passed  since  the  revolution,  it  was  necessary  that  pro- 
testant  dissenters  should  be  exempted  from  its  operation, 
and  tolerated  to  worship  God  in  separate  assemblies,  (though 
indeed  at  the  time  of  its  enaction,  viz:  the  fourth  of  Queen 
Anne,  there  was  not  a  dissenting  congregation,  except  a  few 
Quakers,  in  the  colony,)  and  for  this  our  legislature  thought 
fit  to  take  in  the  act  of  parliament  made  for  that  end  in 
England,  rather  than  to  pass  a  new  one  peculiar  to  this 
colony.  This,  Sir,  you  may  see  in  my  remonstrance  to  the 
governor  and  council,  which  I  find  has  been  laid  before 
you.     Now  it  is  with  a  view  to  exempt  ourselves  from  the 

'  Minutes,  p.  32, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  287 

operation  of  the  above  law,  made  by  our  legislature,  that 
we  plead  the  act  of  toleration,  and  we  plead  it  not  as  an 
English  law,  for  we  are  persuaded  that  it  does  not  extend 
hither  by  virtue  of  its  original  enaction,  but  as  received  into 
the  body  of  the  Virginia  laws  by  our  legislature.  And 
though  some  pretended  to  scruple,  and  others  denied  that 
the  act  of  toleration  is  in  force  here,  even  in  this  sense,  yet 
now  I  think  it  is  generally  granted."  ^  A  difference  of 
opinion,  however  arose,  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  act.  The 
episcopalians  were  naturally  desirous  to  restrict  the  privi- 
leges granted  by  it  within  the  narrowest  limits,  and  there- 
fore contended  that  the  law  did  not  permit  the  same  con- 
gregation to  have  more  than  one  meeting-house,  or  the 
same  minister  to  officiate  for  more  than  one  congregation. 
In  a  letter  written  from  Virginia  to  the  bishop  of  London, 
July  27,  1750,  it  is  made  a  matter  of  complaint,  that  "seven 
meeting-houses,  in  five  different  counties,  have  been  licensed 
by  the  general  court,  for  Mr.  Samuel  Davies;"  and,  the 
writer  adds,  "  I  earnestly  entreat  the  favour  of  your  lord- 
ship's opinion,  whether  in  licensing  so  many  houses  for  one 
man  they  have  not  granted  a  greater  indulgence  than  either 
the  king's  instructions,  or  the  act  of  toleration,  intended." 

'  The  account  of  this  matter  given  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks,  in  his  interest- 
ing volume  on  the  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia, 
is  suited  to  lead  his  readers  into  a  mistake.  He  says,  "  The  officers  of  the 
government,  who  of  course  adhered  to  the  establishment,  strenuously  con- 
tended that  his,  (Mr.  Davies',)  proceedings  were  illegal,  inasmuch  as  the 
English  act  of  toleration  did  not  extend  to  Virginia.  This  position  was  denied 
by  the  dissenters,  who  claimed  equal  rights  with  their  brethren  at  home,  and 
the  matter  was  brought  before  the  courts  of  the  colony."  p.  109.  This 
aceount  gives  an  erroneous  impression,  because  it  is  defective.  It  does  not 
state  the  ground  on  which  Mr.  Davies  claimed  the  protection  of  the  English 
act  of  toleration.  He  appealed  to  it  not  as  an  English,  but  as  a  Virginia  act. 
It  would  indeed  be  a  strange  sight  to  see  prcsbyterians  pleading  for  the 
extension  of  the  English  ecclesiastical  laws  to  the  colonies. 


288  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

He  further  complains  of  Mr.  Davies'  "holding  forth  on 
working  days  to  great  numbers  of  poor  people,  who  gene- 
rally are  his  followers.  This  certainly  is  inconsistent  with 
the  religion  of  labour,  whereby  they  are  obliged  to  main- 
tain themselves  and  families;  and  their  neglect  of  this  duty, 
if  not  seasonably  prevented,  may,  in  process  of  time,  be 
sensibly  felt  by  the  government.'*  In  his  reply,  dated  Lon- 
don, December  25,  1750,  the  bishop  says,  "As  to  Davies' 
case,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  your  attorney  general,  (Peyton 
Randolph,  Esq.)  is  quite  in  the  right,  for  the  act  of  tolera- 
tion confines  the  preacher  to  a  particular  place  to  be  certi- 
fied and  entered."  It  was  "  intended,"  he  adds,  "  to  per- 
mit dissenters  to  worship  in  their  own  way,  and  to  exempt 
them  from  penalties,  but  it  was  never  intended  to  permit 
them  to  set  up  itinerant  preachers  to  gather  congregations 
where  there  was  none  before.  They  are,  by  the  act  of 
William  and  Mary,  to  qualify  in  the  county  where  they 
live,  and  how  Davies  can  be  said  to  live  in  five  different 
counties,  they  who  granted  the  license  must  explain."  As 
Dr.  Doddridge  was  a  friend  of  the  bishop  of  London,  Mr. 
Davies  wrote  to  him  an  account  of  his  circumstances,  and 
requesting  him  to  communicate  to  the  bishop  a  correct 
representation  of  the  case.  Dr.  Doddridge  inclosed  to  the 
bishop  a  large  part  of  Mr.  Davies'  letter,  and  received  an 
answer,  dated  May  11,  1751,  containing  the  above  extracts 
from  the  letter  from  Virginia,  with  the  bishop's  reply,  as 
containing  his  opinion  on  the  matter  in  dispute,  and  adds, 
"  If  the  act  of  toleration  was  desired  with  no  other  view 
than  to  ease  the  consciences  of  those  who  could  not  con- 
form, and  if  it  was  granted  with  no  other  view,  how  must 
Mr.  Davies'  conduct  be  justified?  who,  under  colour  of  a 
toleration  to  his  own  conscience,  is  labouring  to  disturb  the 
consciences  of  others,  and  the  peace  of  a  church,  acknow- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  289 

ledged  to  be  a  true  church  of  Christ.  He  came  three  hun- 
dred miles  from  home,  not  to  serve  people  who  had  scru- 
ples, but  to  a  country  where  the  church  of  England  had 
been  estabhshed  from  its  first  plantation,  and  where  there 
were  not  above  four  or  five  dissenters  not  above  six  years 
ago.  Mr.  Davies  says,  in  his  letter  to  you,  '  we  claim  no 
other  liberties  than  those  granted  by  the  act  of  toleration,' 
so  that  the  state  of  the  question  is  admitted,  on  both  sides, 
to  be  this.  How  far  the  act  of  toleration  will  justify  Mr. 
Davies  in  taking  upon  himself  to  be  an  itinerant  preacher, 
and  travelling  over  many  counties,  and  making  converts  in 
a  country  too,  where,  till  very  lately,  there  was  not  a  dis- 
senter from  the  church  of  England?"  Dr.  Doddridge  sent 
the  bishop's  letter,  with  its  enclosures,  or  copies  of  them,  to 
Mr.  Davies,  who  wrote  a  long  communication  to  the  bishop, 
in  which  he  corrected  his  misapprehensions  as  to  matters 
of  fact,  and  showed  the  reasonableness  of  the  claims  which 
the  presbyterians  had  set  up.  He  shows  him  that,  so  far 
from  his  volunteering  to  make  dissenters  where  there  were 
none  before,  when  he  first  came  to  Virginia,  they  were  suf- 
ficiently numerous  to  form  a  large  congregation,  and  that 
he  came  and  settled  among  them  at  their  own  earnest 
request.  If  they  had  still  further  increased,  it  was  not  from 
a  spirit  of  proselytism  on  his  part,  for  "I  beg  leave  to  de- 
clare," he  says,  "  and  I  defy  the  world  to  confute  me,  that 
in  all  the  sermons  I  have  preached  in  Virginia,  I  have  not 
wasted  one  minute  in  exclaiming  or  reasoning  against  the 
peculiarities  of  the  established  church,  nor  so  much  as 
assigned  the  reasons  of  my  own  non-conformity."  Those, 
therefore,  who  had  joined  the  presbyterian  church  since  his 
settlement  in  Virginia,  had  done  so  not  because  of  his 
efforts  to  make  dissenters,  but  because  of  their  preference 
for  his  doctrines  and  preaching.     And  in  thus  acting  they 

25 


290  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

had  violated  no  law.  These  remarks  were  made  in  refer- 
ence to  his  own  immediate  congregation;  as  to  other 
presbyterians  equally  interested  in  the  points  in  debate, 
they  had  been  born  and  educated  in  the  presbyterian 
church,  and  had  emigrated  to  Virginia,  greatly  to  its  advan- 
tage, in  the  confidence  of  enjoying  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion.  And  to  this  latter  class  the  great  majority  of  the 
presbyterians  within  the  colony  belonged.  He  further  show- 
ed, that  it  was  not  only  reasonable  in  itself,  but  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  law  and  with  usage,  for  a  congregation, 
too  widely  scattered  to  be  able  conveniently  to  assemble  in 
one  place,  to  erect  several  houses  of  worship  for  their 
accommodation.  This  was  done  in  all  the  large  parishes 
connected  with  the  established  church,  and  the  presbyte- 
rians claimed,  under  the  law,  the  right  of  doing  the  same 
thing. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  controversy  on  this  subject 
that  Mr.  Davies  applied  for  the  support  of  the  synod  in  the 
manner  stated  in  the  minutes  for  the  year  1751.  This  sub- 
ject long  continued  to  be  a  matter  of  difficulty.  In  1753,  a 
representation  was  again  made  to  the  synod  "  of  the  illegal 
restraints  the  protestant  dissenters  lie  under  in  Virginia,  as 
to  their  religious  liberties;"  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  a  representation  to  be  sent  to  England  with  Mr. 
Davies.  ^ 

Notwithstanding  these  obstacles  the  presbyterian  church 
continued  to  increase  in  the  southern  provinces,  and  the 
synod  almost  yearly  sent  one  or  more  of  their  number  to 
preach  the  gospel  in  that  portion  of  our  country.  In  1754, 
Messrs.  Beatty,  Bostwick,  Lewis,  and  Thane,  were  ap- 
pointed to  go  to  the  south,  particularly  to  North  Carolina, 
for  three  months,  ^     In  1755,  Messrs.  Brainard  and  Spen- 

>  Minutes,  p.  62.  ^  ibid.  p.  72. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  291 

cer  were  sent  to  North  Carolina,  and  Mr.  Clark  to  Vir- 
ginia. ^  In  1756,  Messrs.  Duffield,  Ramsay,  Brainard,  and 
Rodgers  were  directed  to  go  to  the  south  before  the  winter, 
and  Messrs.  Whitaker  and  Hait  to  spend  four  months 
there.  ^  These  appointments,  however,  as  appears  from 
the  minutes  for  the  following  year,  were  not  fulfilled.  In 
1757,  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Hait  was  renewed,  and  the 
presbyteries  of  Newcastle  and  Hanover  were  directed  each 
to  send  another  missionary.  In  1758,  the  presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick  was  directed  to  send  a  candidate  to  North 
Carolina,  and  the  presbytery  of  Suffolk  was  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  send  Mr.  Brush  to  the  same  important  vacan- 
cies. ^  As  so  large  a  portion  of  the  duty  of  supplying  the 
new  settlements  was  devolved  upon  the  presbyteries,  the 
above  notices  exhibit  but  a  small  part  of  the  missionary 
labours  of  this  synod. 

Our  fathers  were  not  altogether  inattentive  to  the  religi- 
ous instruction  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
In  1751,  "the  exigencies  of  the  great  affair  of  propagating 
the  gospel  among  the  heathen  being  represented  to  the 
synod,  the  synod,  in  order  to  promote  so  important  a  design 
do  enjoin  upon  all  their  members  to  appoint  a  collection  in 
their  several  congregations,  once  a  year,  to  be  applied  for 
that  purpose;  and  that  the  money  thus  collected  be  sent 
yearly  to  the  synod."  "*  In  1752,  it  was  ordered  that  the 
proceeds  of  the  collections  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Brainard.  In  1755,  Mr.  Gil- 
bert Tennent  reported  that  he  had  received  two  hundred 
pounds  sterling,  from  England,  for  propagating  the  gospel 
among  the  Indians,  which,  agreeably  to  the  directions  of 
the  donor,  were  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  of 
the  college  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  interest  to  be  employed 

>  Minutes,  p.  79,  81.        "-  Ibid.  p.  116.         »  Ibid.  p.  135.         •»  Ibid.  p.  33, 


292  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

in  supporting  a  missionary,  or  school-master,  or  for  the  edu- 
cation of  a  heathen  youth  in  the  college,  or  of  a  young  man 
of  English  or  Scotch  extraction  as  a  teacher  among  the 
Indians;  the  synod  of  New  York  to  determine,  from  time  to 
time,  to  which  of  these  purposes  the  money  was  to  be  ap- 
propriated. ^ 

The  synod  was  scarcely  less  zealous  for  the  promotion  of 
learning,  than  they  were  in  behalf  of  religion.  They  had 
not  indeed  any  public  seminary  immediately  under  their 
direction,  but  the  college  at  Princeton  really  owed  its  exis- 
tence to  their  efforts.  It  appears  from  the  records  of  the 
province,  that  "a  charter  to  incorporate  sundry  persons  to 
found  a  college,  passed  the  great  seal  of  the  province  of 
New  Jersey,  tested  by  J.  Hamilton,  Esq.,  president  of  his 
majesty's  council  and  commander  in  chief  of  the  province 
of  New  Jersey,  the  22d  of  October,  1746."  ^  As  this 
character  was  never  recorded,  neither  its  provisions,  nor 
the  names  of  the  trustees  created  by  it,  are  now  known. 
It  was  not  acceptable  to  those  who  asked  for  it,  and  was 
therefore  surrendered  for  another  obtained  in  1748,  from 
George  the  second,  through  the  agency  of  Governor  Bel- 
cher. It  was  under  the  former  charter  that  Mr.  Dickinson 
acted  as  president  of  the  college  until  his  death  in  1747, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Burr,  who  acted  in  that 
capacity  until  1757.  The  college,  no  doubt,  owed  much  of 
its  early  prosperity  to  Gov.  Belcher,  a  religious,  able,  and 
accomplished  man,  to  whom  the  trustees  often  expressed 
their  obligations.  On  one  occasion  they  addressed  him  in  the 
following  language:  "  As  the  college  of  New  Jersey  views 
you  in  the  light  of  its  founder,  patron,  and  benefactor,  and 

1  Minutes,  p.  84,  and  96. 

2  See  the  History  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  by  Dr.  Green,  appended 
to  his'Baccalaurate  Discourses. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  293 

the  impartial  world  will  esteem  it  a  respect  deservedly  due 
to  the  name  of  Belcher,  permit  us  to  dignify  the  edifice  now 
erecting  at  Princeton  with  that  endeared  appellation ;  and 
when  your  excellency  is  translated  to  a  house  not  made 
with  hands  eternal  in  the  heavens,  let  Belcher-Hall  pro- 
claim your  beneficent  acts  for  the  advancement  of  Christi- 
anity and  the  emolument  of  the  arts  and  science  to  the 
latest  generations."  This  honour  the  Governor  modestly 
declined,  and  proposed  the  name  of  Nassau-Hall,  in  proof 
"of  the  honour  we  retain  in  this  remote  part  of  the  globe 
to  the  immortal  memory  of  the  glorious  King  William  the 
third,  who  was  a  branch  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Nassau, 
and  who,  under  God,  was  the  great  deliverer  of  the  Bri- 
tish nation  from  those  two  monstrous  furies,  popery  and 
slavery."  ^ 

Though  the  college  was  greatly  indebted  to  Gov.  Bel- 
cher, it  was  nevertheless  the  child  of  the  synod.  All  the 
clerical  members  of  the  board  of  the  trustees  belonged  to 
the  synod,  except  Mr.  David  Cowell,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia.  The  funds  also  which  founded 
and  sustained  the  institution,  were  collected  by  the  efforts 
of  the  same  body.  In  1751,  the  trustees  requested  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Pemberton  might  be  appointed  to  go  to  Europe 
to  solicit  benefactions  for  the  college,  and  the  synod  accord- 
ingly commissioned  Messrs.  Burr,  Treat,  William  Tennent, 
and  Davies,  to  proceed  at  once  to  New  York  to  arrange  the 
matter  with  Mr.  Pemberton  and  his  congregation.  This 
committee  subsequently  reported  that  they  had  failed  in 
accomplishing  the  object  of  their  mission.  ^  In  1752,  a 
general  collection  was  appointed  in  behalf  of  the  college, 
and  it  was  "ordered  that  all  other  collections  before  ap- 
pointed, be  suspended  on  that  account."^ 

'   Dr.  Green's  History,  p.  275.  2  Minutes,  p.  31.  3  Ibid.  p.  46 

25* 


294  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

In  1753,  the  trustees  of  the  college  petitioned  the  synod 
to  send  two  of  their  number  to  Great  Britain  to  solicit 
benefactions  on  its  behalf.  This  request  led  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Messrs.  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Davies,  who 
were  made  the  bearers  of  an  address  to  the  general  assem- 
bly in  Scotland.  In  this  address  the  synod  state  that  the 
college  had  already  been  the  means  of  educating  a  number 
of  youth  then  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  church;  that 
after  all  that  could  be  done  in  this  country,  its  resources 
were  entirely  inadequate,  and  the  trustees  were,  therefore, 
constrained  through  them  to  appeal  to  their  friends  in 
Europe  for  aid.  The  synod  believing  the  object  to  be  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  the  interests  of  religion  and 
learning  in  this  infant  country,  proceeded  to  lay  before  the 
assembly  a  general  representation  of  the  deplorable  cir- 
cumstances of  the  churches  under  their  care.  "  There  are," 
it  is  added,  "  in  the  colonies  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Carolina,  a  great 
number  of  congregations  formed  on  the  presbyterian  plan, 
which  have  put  themselves  under  the  synodical  care  of 
your  petitioners,  who  conform  to  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  have  adopted  her  standards  of  doc- 
trine, worship,  and  discipline.  There  are  also  large  settle- 
ments lately  planted  in  various  parts,  particularly  in  North 
and  South  Carolina,  where  multitudes  are  extremely  anx- 
ious for  the  ministrations  of  the  gospel,  but  who  are  not 
formed  into  congregations  and  regularly  organized  for  want 
of  ministers."  These  numerous  calls  the  synod  state  they 
are  utterly  unable  to  satisfy,  and  that  their  only  hope  of 
being  able  to  meet  these  demands  is  founded  on  the  college 
of  New  Jersey,  upon  which  the  presbyterians  in  the  six 
colonies  above  mentioned  must  depend.  Your  petitioners, 
therefore,"  say  the  synod,  "  most  earnestly  pray  that  this 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  295 

I 

very  reverend  assembly  would  afford  the  said  college  all 
the  countenance  and  assistance  in  their  power.  The  young 
daughter  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  helpless  and  exposed 
in  this  foreign  land,  cries  to  her  tender  and  powerful  parent 
for  relief.  Tiie  cries  of  ministers  oppressed  with  labours, 
and  of  congregations  famishmg  for  want  of  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word,  implore  assistance.  And  were  the  poor  Indian 
savages  sensible  of  their  own  case,  they  would  join  in  the 
cry  and  beg  for  more  missionaries  to  be  sent  to  propagate 
the  religion  of  Jesus  among  them."  ^  As  Mr.  Tennentand 
Mr.  Davies  were  not  the  agents  of  the  synod,  they  made  no 
report  to  that  body  of  the  success  of  their  mission.  That  it 
was,  however,  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  may  be  inferred 
not  only  from  the  vote  of  thanks  rendered  to  the  general 
assembly  for  their  assistance,  ^  but  from  the  address  of  the 
trustees  to  Gov.  Belcher,  in  which  they  said,  that  the  con- 
tributions obtained  from  England  and  Scotland  had  "  amply 
enabled  them  to  erect  a  convenient  edifice  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  students,  and  to  lay  a  foundation  for  a 
fund  for  the  support  of  the  necessary  instructers."  Of  the 
sums  received  by  Messrs.  Tennent  and  Davies,  there  were 
^6307  sterling  given  for  the  education  of  indigent  young 
men  for  the  ministry,  the  interest  only  of  which  was  to  be 
used;  and  the  further  sum  of  £50,  the  principal  of  which 
was  to  be  applied  to  the  same  purpose.  This  money  was 
given  to  the  trustees  of  the  college,  the  synod  having  the 
right  to  examine  and  select  the  young  men  who  were  to 
receive  the  benefit  of  it.  ^  The  synod  had,  at  an  earlier 
date,  (1751,)  recommended  that  "an  annual  collection  for  the 
support  of  young  students  whose  circumstances  rendered 

1  Minutes,  Appendix,  p.  12 — 18. 

2  Dr.  Green's  History,  p.  307.  ^  Minutes,  p.  81,  85. 


296  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

them  unable  to  maintain  themselves  at  learning,  and  for 
other  charitable  purposes.'^  ^ 

The  facts  above  detailed  sufficiently  prove  the  intimate 
connexion  between  the  synod  and  the  college  of  New 
Jersey,  and  show  that  the  synod  of  New  York  was  not  less 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  learning,  than  that  of  Philadelphia. 

It  has  been  proved  in  an  earlier  chapter  of  this  vvork,^ 
that  the  synod  of  New  York  adopted  the  same  standard  of 
doctrine  as  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  there  was 
no  dispute  between  the  two  bodies  as  to  that  point.  With 
regard  to  their  form  of  government,  it  was  no  less  strictly 
presbyterian  than  that  of  the  other  synod.  The  Directory 
was  as  much  the  constitution  of  the  one  body  as  it  was  of 
the  other.  ^  In  the  address  to  the  general  assembly  of  the 
church  of  Scotland,  just  quoted,  the  synod  declare  they  had 
adopted  her  standards  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline; 
a  declaration  which  admits  but  of  one  interpretation.  In 
1751,  the  following  minute  was  adopted  on  this  subject: 
"  The  synod  being  informed  of  certain  misrepresentations 
concerning  the  constitution,  order,  and  discipline  of  our 
churches  industriously  spread  by  some  of  the  members  of 
the  Dutch  congregations  interspersed  among,  or  bordering 
upon  us,  with  design  to  prevent  occasional  or  coRstant 
communion  of  their  members  with  our  churches;  to  obvi- 
ate all  such  misrepresentations,  and  to  cultivate  a  good 
understanding  between  us  and  our  brethren  of  the  Dutch 
churches,  we  do  hereby  declare  and  testify  our  constitution, 
order,  and  discipline,  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  established 
church  of  Scotland.  The  Westminster  Confession,  Cate- 
chisms,  and   Directory,   for    public   worship  and   church 

'  Minutes,  p.  33.  2  gee  chapter  III.  p.  205.  et  scqq. 

3  See  on  the  point  also,  chapter  III.  p.  205,  and  chapter  V.  p.  197.  242. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  297 

government,  adopted  by  them,  are  in  like  manner  received 
and  adopted  by  us.  We  declare  ourselves  united  with  that 
church  in  the  same  faith,  order,  and  discipline.  Its  appro- 
bation and  countenance  we  have  abundant  testimonies  of. 
They,  as  brethren,  receive  us,  and  their  members  we,  as 
opportunity  offers,  receive  as  ours.  And  as  the  church  of 
Scotland,  and  the  Reformed  churches  abroad,  agreeable  to 
the  Geneva  platform,  hold  a  ready  and  free  communion 
with  each  other,  so  we  desire  the  same  with  our  brethren 
of  the  Dutch  and  French  churches  interspersed  amongst 
and  bordering  upon  us."  ^ 

Mr.  Davies  in  his  letter  to  the  bishop  of  London,  says: 
"  If  I  am  prejudiced  in  favour  of  any  church,  my  Lord,  it  is 
of  that  established  in  Scotland;  of  which  I  am  a  member 
in  the  same  sense  that  the  established  church  in  Virginia  is 
the  church  of  England."  ^  As  all  the  ministers  of  the 
episcopal  church  in  this  country  received,  at  that  day, 
ordination  from  the  English  bishops,  and  were  under  the 
episcopal  supervision  of  the  bishop  of  London,  the  above 
declaration  certainly  imports  a  most  intimate  agreement 
and  fellowship  between  our  church  and  that  of  Scotland. 

In  order,  however,  to  illustrate  the  true  character  of  this 
interesting  portion  of  our  church,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
refer  to  some  of  their  ecclesiastical  acts.  The  synod  exer- 
cised a  general  supervisory  and  governing  power  over  the 
congregations  and  presbyteries;  and  for  this  purpose  revised 
the  records  of  inferior  judicatories,  and  received  from  them 
appeals  and  references.  That  this  examination  of  the 
records  was  a  proper  judicial  inspection,  is  evident  from 
such  minutes  as  the  following:  "The  New  York  presby- 
tery book  brought,  revised,  and  approved,  except  a  para- 

'  Minutes  p.  33.  Appendix,  p.  11. 
2  Princeton  Review,  April,  1840. 


298  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

graph  on  page  149,  on  which  the  synod  has  not  light  to 
determine."  ^ 

The  cases  of  reference  of  judicial  matters  to  the  synod 
for  decision  are  very  numerous.  In  1750,  the  presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick  referred  the  case  of  the  congregation  of 
Tehicken,  or  Tinicum.  It  appears  that  the  people  were 
divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  proper  location  of  their  place  of 
worship,  and  therefore  agreed  to  decide  the  matter  by  lot. 
The  disappointed  party,  however,  refused  to  abide  by  the 
decision,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  been  unfairly  obtained. 
The  synod  censured  both  parties  for  resorting  to  the  lot; 
but  as,  in  their  judgment,  it  had  been  fairly  cast,  they  de- 
cided that  the  recusants  had  acted  very  sinfully  in  refusing 
to  abide  by  it,  and  therefore  "  ordered  that  a  solemn  admo- 
nition be  administered  unto  them,  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  in 
the  name  of  the  synod,  which  was  accordingly  done."  ^ 

In  1752,  a  reference  was  brought  in  from  the  presbytery 
of  New  York,  relating  to  the  congregation  in  that  city, 
"  and  the  plea  of  all  parties  having  been  heard,"  the  synod 
came  to  the  following  conclusions,  viz. 

"  1.  That  the  building,  grounds,  &c.  conveyed  from  the 
general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  to  the  presby- 
terian  society  in  New  York,  belong  to  presbyterians  with- 
out distinction  of  name  or  nation,  who  conform  to  the  gene- 
ral plan  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  as  practised  by  the  synod 
of  New  York. 

"2.  That  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  presbyterian  plan 
of  government,  nor  with  the  institution  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  trustees,  or  a  committee  chosen  by  the  congre- 
gation, should  have  the  disposal  and  management  of  the 
public  money  raised  by  the  said  congregation,  to  the  uses 
for  which  it  was  designed;   provided  they   leave   in  the 

I  Minutes,  p.  133,  2  ibid.  p.  33. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  OQQ 

hands,  and  to  the  management  of  the  deacons,  what  is  col- 
lected for  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  poor.  And  that  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  have  no  right  to 
sit  with,  and  preside  over,  such  trustees  or  committee. 

"  3.  That  it  appears  to  the  synod,  that  the  trustees  of 
said  church  have  faithfully  discharged  the  trust  reposed  in 
them,  with  respect  to  its  temporalities,  much  to  its  ad- 
vantage. 

"4.  That  as  to  the  articles  of  complaint  brought  against 
Mr.  Gumming,  it  appears  to  the  synod,  that  he  has  been 
necessarily  hindered  from  performing  his  part  in  public 
service,  by  his  low  state  of  health,  but  they  judge  it  his 
duty  to  discharge  it  according  to  his  call  when  his  health 
will  admit,  and  when  he  is  disabled,  he  should  desire  Mr. 
Pemberton  to  officiate  in  his  room.  That  his  insisting  on  a 
right  to  sit  with  the  trustees  in  their  conventions  about  the 
temporal  affairs  of  the  congregation,  was  not  a  violation  of 
his  ordination  vows,  which  respect  only  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  although  they  judge  he  acted  imprudently  in  so 
doing.  That  he  is  to  be  commended  for  insisting  on  per- 
sons praying  in  their  families  who  present  their  children 
for  baptism;  but  inasmuch  as  it  appears  expedient  that  the 
same  form  of  covenanting  should  be  used  in  the  same 
church,  the  synod  do  therefore  recommend  ii  to  Mr.  Pem- 
berton and  Mr.  Gumming  to  consult  with  the  committee 
hereafter  to  be  mentioned,  about  a  form  that  they  can  both 
agree  in. 

"  5.  That  the  church  proceed  as  soon  as  may  be,  to  the 
choice  of  elders  to  join  with  their  ministers  in  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline  of  the  church,  and  that  the  committee 
hereafter  to  be  appointed,  do  nominate  the  persons  to  be 
chosen,  and  determine  the  number. 

"  6.  That  as  to  the  methods  taken  to  introduce  a  new 


300  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

version  of  the  Psalms  in  public  worship,  the  synod  judge  it 
to  be  disorderly  and  always  to  be  discountenanced,  when 
the  parties  in  matters  in  debate  in  a  church  do  carry  about 
private  subscriptions. 

"  7.  That  as  to  the  introduction  of  a  new  version  of  the 
Psalms,  the  synod  hath  not  light  at  present  to  determine, 
but  do  empower  the  committee  to  recommend  Dr.  Watts' 
version,  if  upon  observation  of  circumstances,  they  think  it 
proper. 

"  And  the  synod  do  appoint  the  Reverend  Messrs.  Samuel 
Davies,  Samuel  Finley,  and  Charles  Beatty,  to  be  a  com- 
mittee to  go  immediately  to  New  York,  and  direct  and 
assist  the  presbyterian  congregation  of  New  York  in  such 
affairs  as  may  contribute  to  their  peace  and  edification."  ^ 

'  Minutes,  p.  43 — 46.  It  has  already  been  shown,  chap.  I.  p.  60,  that  the 
presbyterian  congregation  in  New  York  was  a  regularly  organized  church 
composed  principally  of  Scotch  presbyterians,  and  constantly  called  the 
Scotch  church.  A  very  influential  portion  of  its  members,  however,  were  of 
English  origin,  who  differed  in  their  habits  and  preferences  from  their  Scotch 
brethren.  This  gave  rise  to  constant  difficulty  about  Psalmody  the  mode  of 
Hianaging  their  secular  affairs,  and  the  usages  of  public  worship.  The 
pamphlet  entitled,  "  The  case  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city 
of  New  York,"  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter,  throws  a  clear  light  on  the 
original  character  of  the  church,  and  indirectly  upon  the  synod  with  which  it 
was  cormccted.  The  object  of  the  pamphlet  is  to  give  an  account  of  the 
several  attempts  made  to  obtain  a  charter,  and  of  the  opposition  of  the  epis- 
copalians, by  which  these  efforts  were  rendered  unsuccessful. 

The  writers  claim,  "  that  all  protestant  denominations  in  the  colonies,  are, 
in  the  eye  of  the  law,  upon  a  level,"  and  that  this  was  "  the  necessary  conse- 
quence of  removing  to  a  distant  country,  where  no  religious  establishment  is 
set  up."  It  was  on  this  assumption  the  colonies  were  settled.  The  granting 
of  charters,  therefore,  to  the  Dutch  and  Episcopalian  churches,  was  a  matter 
of  justice  and  not  of  favour.  "  What  shall  we  say  then,"  it  is  asked,  "  to  the 
denial  of  such  charters  to  the  dispersions  of  the  church  of  Scotland  ?"  The 
first  application  was  made  in  1720,  in  the  name  of  "the  minister,  ciders,  and 
deacons  of  the  presbyterian  church  in  New  York."     A  committee  of  council 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  301 

This  committee  met,  agreeably  to  appointment,  and  exe- 
cuted their  somewhat  extraordinary  mission  in  selecting 
and  nominating  two  elders,  but  decided  that  it  was  not 
expedient  "judicially  to  recommend  a  change  in  the  version 

to  whom  this  application  was  referred,  reported  in  favour  of  it;  "  but  the 
board,  to  gratify  the  unexpected  and  illiberal  jealousy  of  the  episcopalians," 
desisted  from  all  proceedings  upon  it.  "  The  presbyterians  soon  after  re- 
newed their  application,  and  the  episcopalians  their  unreasonable  opposition." 
The  petition  was,  at  their  suggestion,  referred  to  the  authorities  in  England. 
Though  made  in  September,  1720,  it  was  not  sent  home  until  1724.  The 
Lords  of  Trade  consulted  counsellor  West,  afterwards  Lord  Chancellor  of 
Ireland,  who  gave  his  opinion  in  these  words:  "  Upon  consideration  of  the 
several  acts  of  uniformity  that  have  passed  in  Great  Britain,  I  am  of  opinion 
that  they  do  not  extend  to  New  York;  and  consequently  an  act  of  toleration 
is  of  no  use  in  that  province;  and  therefore  as  there  is  no  provincial  act  of 
uniformity  according  to  the  church  of  England,  I  am  of  opinion  that  by  law 
such  patent  of  incorporation  may  be  granted  as  by  the  petition  is  desired." 
Still  no  charter  was  granted.  "Notwithstanding  all  opposition,  the  Scotch 
church  flourished  under  the  long  and  laborious  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Pemberton,  who  settled  here  in  1727."  In  1759,  a  third  application  was 
made,  with  no  better  success.  A  fourth  attempt  was  made  in  1766,  when  it 
was  thought  best,  "to  lay  the  case  of  this  distant  dispersion  of  the  church  of 
Scotland  before  his  majesty."  When  the  matter  came  up  for  consideration, 
"the  bishop  of  London  appeared  twice  before  the  commissioners  of  trade  and 
plantation,  in  opposition  to  the  petition,"  which  was  finally  rejected.  The 
grounds  on  which  these  applications  were  opposed,  gave  more  just  offence 
than  their  rejection  itself.  It  was  cither  assumed  that  the  acts  of  uniformity 
were  in  force  in  this  country,  or  that  the  question  respecting  their  obligation 
must  be  previously  determined  by  the  highest  authority,  "  lest  such  incorpo- 
rations  might  be  considered  as  repugnant  to  the  provisions  of  those  statutes." 
Such  was  the  language  of  the  Governor's  council  on  the  subject ;  who  still 
more  plainly  indicate  their  principles  by  saying  in  the  same  document,  that 
"  except  the  charters  granted  to  the  church  of  England,  all  the  instances  of 
such  incorporations  within  this  province,  (four  only  in  number,)  are  confined 
to  the  Dutch,  whose  claims  to  this  distinction  are,  the  committee  apprehend, 
grounded  on  one  of  the  articles  of  capitulation,  on  the  surrender  of  the  colony 
in  1664,  by  which  it  is  declared,  that  the  Dutch  here,  shall  enjoy  the  liberty 
of  their  consciences  in  divine  worship  and   church  discipline."     Thus  it 

2G 


302  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  the  Psalms,  lest   the   animosities   in  the  congregation 
should  be  the  more  inflamed."  ^ 

Sometimes  the  affairs  of  a  congregation  were  brought 
before  the  synod  without  the  intervention  of  a  presbytery. 

appears  that  the  Dutch  owed  their  liberty  of  conscience  to  an  article  of  capi- 
tulation, and  that  those  who  could  plead  no  such  ground  of  distinction,  were 
not  entitled  to  such  liberty.  Presbyterians  could  not  avoid  drawing-  the  infe- 
rence from  such  declarations,  that  episcopalians  in  this  country  and  in  Eng- 
land,  were  desirous  of  giving  full  force  to  the  acts  of  uniformity.  On  what 
other  ground  was  the  distinction  made  between  the  two  denominations? 
Why  were  charters  granted  without  hesitation  or  delay  to  episcopal  churches 
and  refused  to  presbyterian  ones  ?  Why  did  the  lords  of  trade  say,  that  it  was 
inexpedient  to  grant  the  latter  "any  further  privileges  or  immunities  than 
Ihey  are  entitled  to  by  the  laws  of  toleration"?  The  toleration  act  presup- 
posed the  act  of  uniformity.  If  presbyterians  owed  their  liberty  of  conscience 
in  the  colonies  to  the  former,  it  was  because  the  latter  was  in  force  in  the 
colonies.  Thus  the  men  who  had  fled  from  the  oppression  of  those  acts  in 
their  own  country,  found  their  authority  asserted  in  the  place  of  their  asy  ■ 
lum.  What  rendered  this  case  the  harder  was,  that  the  Dutch  and  English 
presbyterians  in  the  province  of  New  York  were  "  a  great  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  its  inhabitants."  This  is  asserted  in  the  petition  for  a 
charter,  made  in  1766,  and  is  virtually  admitted  in  the  reply  to  it.  Yet  the 
minority  had  not  only  acts  of  incorporation,  but  public  property  granted  to 
them  to  a  large  amount.  "  At  this  very  juncture,"  says  the  pamphlet,  (1773,) 
"  the  society  for  propagating  the  gospel,  though  restrained  from  taking  real 
estates  at  home,  are  asking  for  grants  of  crown  lands  in  America  in  mort- 
main, for  themselves  and  the  episcopal  churches,  to  the  amount  of  many 
hundred  thousands  of  acres.  In  some  instances  they  have  been  gratified 
already,  and  in  one  with  circumstances  too  singular  to  be  unnoticed.  All  the 
world  knows  the  episcopal  church  of  the  city  of  New  York  to  be  one  of  the 
richest  ecclesiastical  corporations  in  the  lung's  dominions.  They  own  a  very 
large  portion  of  the  very  metropolis.  Sixty  odd  acres  divided  into  small  lots 
will  produce,  when  the  present  leases  expire,  a  revenue  fit  for  a  popish  abbey. 
They  had  first  a  lease  of  it  from  the  crown,  which  was  vacated  by  a  law  pro- 
cured in  consequence  of  orders  from  home.  Impatient  under  this  loss,  a 
project  was  devised  to  repeal  the  vacating  act,  and  regrant  it  in  fee,  before 
the  repealing  act  could  be  known  on  the  other  side  of  tlie  water.  My  Lord 
'  Minutes,  p.  51. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  303 

Thus  in  1753,  Mr.  Pemberton  and  others  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  New  York,  made  a  representation  of  the  painful 
divisions  existing  in  that  church,  and  requested  the  inter- 
vention   of    the    synod.     Whereupon   William    Tennent, 

Cornbury  risked  the  royal  displeasure,  and  sacrificed  the  crown  to  the  church. 
Queen  Anne  repealed  the  repealing,  and  confirmed  the  vacating  act;  but  the 

church  was  already  possessed  of  the  patent They  have  lately  added 

to  their  wealth  a  township  of  no  less  than  25,000  acres,  out  of  the  crown 
lands  in  the  county  of  Gloucester,  ....  applied  for  by,  and  granted  to  Na- 
thaniel Marston  and  others  as  private  planters ;  though  they  took  the  estate 
not  for  themselves,  but  for  the  incorporated  churches  of  whicli  they  were 
officers  and  members.  Chargeable  with  such  practices,  is  not  their  opposing 
the  naked  incorporation  of  the  Scotch  churches,  (who  ask  for  no  estate  or 
lands,)  the  most  matchless  effrontery  ?  .  .  .  .  What  marvel  then  that  the 
project  of  erecting  episcopacy  in  America,  excites  such  general  apprehension 
in  the  rest  of  the  American  churches  ?"  This  assumption,  therefore,  that  the 
English  ecclesiastical  laws  were  of  force  in  this  country,  and  that  the  vast 
majority  of  the  people  were  only  tolerated,  was  a  real  grievance.  It  was 
the  same  assumption,  viz :  that  America  was  a  part  of  the  realm  of  Great 
Britain,  and  was  subject  to  the  acts  of  parliament  even  in  matters  of  taxation, 
that  caused  the  revolution,  arnd  formed  its  justification. 

The  character  of  the  church  in  New  York  is  clearly  set  forth  in  their  seve- 
ral  petitions  for  a  charter.  They  frequently  call  themselves  "  a  dispersion  of 
the  church  of  Scotland;"  and  in  the  petition  presented  in  1720,  prayed  to  be 
incorporated  for  the  exercise  of  their  religion  "  in  its  true  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  vi'orship,  according  to  the  rules  and  methods  of  the  established  church  of 
North  Britain."  That  presented  in  1766,  was  in  the  name  of  "  John  Rodgers 
and  Joseph  Treat,  the  present  ministers  of  the  presbyterian  church  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  according  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  Catechisms,  and 
Directory,  agreeable  to  the  established  church  of  Scotland,"  and  of  tlie  elders, 
deacons,  and  trustees.  In  the  copy  of  the  charier  which  they  sent  to  Eng- 
land to  be  executed  and  returned,  they  requested  the  king  to  say  :  "  We  have 
thought  fit  to  favour  the  pious  purposes  of  our  said  loving  subjects,  and  to 
secure  to  them,  their  successors,  and  others  joining  with  them  of  the  same 
religious  persuasion,  the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  all  their  civil  and 
religious  rights,  and  to  preserve  to  them  and  their  successors,  ihc  liberty  of 
worshipping  God  according  to  their  consciences,  and  the  usages  of  those 
presbyterian  churches,  which  have  adopted  and  do  regulate  themselves  by, 


304  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Samuel  Davies,  Aaron  Burr,  Caleb  Smith,  David  Bostwick, 
Elihu  Spencer,  Richard  Treat,  Charles  Beatty,  and  John 
Rodgers,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  at  New 
York,  "  with  full  power  and  authority  to  transact  such 
things  with  respect  to  said  congregation,  as  they  shall  judge 
necessary  for  the  healing  of  its  divisions,  and  the  best  inte- 
rests of  religion  therein."  ^ 

When  this  committee  met,  a  paper  containing  a  state- 
ment of  the  grievances  of  which  a  part  of  the  congregation 
complained,  was  laid  before  them,  on  which  they  gave  the 
following  judgment: 

"1.  As  to  the  first  article  complaining  of  the  neglect  of 
ministerial  visits,  and  examining  into  the  lives  and  conver- 
sation of  the  people;  it  appears  from  the  representation 
made  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  that  he  has  made  conscience  of 
his  duty  in  these  respects,  though  of  late  he  has,  by  reason 
of  the  divisions  subsisting  among  his  people,  desisted  from 
it,  we  therefore  earnestly  recommend  his  persisting  in  that 
important  part  of  his  ministerial  lalours ;  and  that  he  be  not 
discouraged  by  any  disagreeable  appearances  among  them. 

'•'2.  As  to  the  third  article  against  the  session  concerning 
the  new  version  of  the  Psalms,  the  committee  cannot  think 

and  conform  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Direc- 
torj."  And  again :  "  We  do  also  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  ordain 
and  grant  that  the  said  ministers,  elders,  deacons,  and  trustees,  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church  of  the  city  of  New  York,  according  to  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and  Directory,  in  communion  with  the  church  of 
Scotland,  and  their  successors  for  ever,  by  these  presents,  that  this  our  grant 
shall  be  firm,  good,  and  effectual,  &c.  &c"  As  all  this  was  said  by  men 
who  had  always  belonged  to  the  New-side  synod,  and  as  the  Westminster 
Directory  related  not  merely  to  a  single  congregation,  but  to  presbyteries 
and  synods,  it  shows  very  clearly  that  they  thought  their  system  of  church 
government  was  in  harmony  with  that  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  of  which 
they  called  themselves  a  dispersion,  and  with  which  they  professed  to  be  in 
communion.  i  Minutes,  p.  58. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  305 

it  regular  for  the  ministers  and  elders  to  introduce  a  new 
version,  without  the  express  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
majority  of  the  congregation;  yet  since  Dr.  Watts'  version 
is  introduced  into  this  church,  and  is  well  adapted  for 
Christian  worship,  and  received  by  many  presbyterian  con- 
gregations both  in  America  and  Great  Britain;  they  cannot 
but  judge  it  best  for  the  well-being  of  the  congregation, 
under  their  present  circumstances,  that  they  should  be 
continued. 

"  3.  As  to  the  fourth  article  complaining  of  the  neglect  of 
the  Westminster  Confession,  and  not  recommending  of  it 
in  baptism,  the  committee  conceive  that  the  vote  of  the 
synod,  as  to  the  latter,  is  sufficient;  and  Mr.  Pemberton's 
declaring  his  high  approbation  of  said  Confession,  and  pub- 
licly teaching  the  Westminster  Catechisms,  ought  to  be 
satisfying  to  all. 

"4.  As  to  praying  at  the  burial  of  the  dead,  since  it  is 
not  practised  but  at  the  request  of  those  concerned,  and  all 
are  left  at  liberty  to  request  it  or  not,  the  committee  think 
it  no  just  matter  of  offence,  especially  as  it  is  frequently 
practised  by  the  presbyterian  ministers  in  this  country,  and 
the  reasons  for  which  the  general  assembly,  in  the  early 
times  of  the  reformation  from  popery,  prohibited  it,  are 
now  evidently  ceased. 

"  5.  As  to  singing  anthems,  &c.  though  the  committee 
cannot  disapprove  of  them  at  proper  seasons,  yet  lest  it 
should  tend  to  take  off  the  minds  of  the  people  from  the 
important  things  which  they  have  heard  in  the  house  of 
God,  and  as  it  seems  matter  of  conscience  to  some,  the  com- 
mittee judge  it  advisable  to  forbear  the  practice  on  the 
Lord's  day. 

"  6.  As  to  the  article  complaining  of  injurious  and  con- 
temptuous treatment,  the  committee  are  much  grieved  to- 

26* 


306  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

find  that  there  has  been  so  much  of  it  on  both  sides  during 
the  unhappy  disputes  that  have  subsisted  among  them,  and 
do  earnestly  recommend  mutual  forgiveness,  forbearance, 
and  moderation  towards  one  another,  as  the  most  hkely 
method  to  promote  peace  and  unanimity  among  them."  ^ 

This  minute  throws  no  little  Hght  upon  the  causes  of  the 
difficulties  in  that  congregation.  It  shows  that  one  portion 
of  the  people,  with  characteristic  pertinacity  and  scrupu- 
lousness, were  for  adhering  to  "  the  rules  and  methods"  of 
that  church  of  which  they  all  professed  to  be  a  "  disper- 
sion;" while  another  portion  treated  these  scruples  with 
very  little  forbearance.  The  version  of  the  Psalms  was 
changed  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  and  even 
anthems  were  sung  after  sermon  on  the  Sabbath.  They 
might  as  well  have  said  mass,  and  expect  the  Scotch  pres- 
byterians  of  that  day  to  join  in  the  service.  If  they  wished 
to  drive  the  Scotch  from  "the  Scotch  church,"  this  was 
certainly  the  proper  method  to  do  it,  but  it  was  not  the  way 
to  obtain  peace.  With  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  impossible  to  judge  on  which  party  the 
blame  should  principally  be  laid,  but  it  appears  from  the 
above  minute,  that  the  rulers  of  the  congregation  did  not 
act  on  the  principles  so  strenuously  inculcated  by  the  apos- 
tle of  the  gentiles.  "  If  thy  brother  be  grieved  with  thy 
meat,  now  walkest  thou  not  charitably.  Destroy  not  him 
with  thy  meat,  for  whom  Christ  died." 

After  the  committee  had  rendered  the  decision  above 
recorded,  Messrs.  Pemberton  and  Gumming  requested  to 
be  dismissed  from  their  pastoral  relation  to  the  church. 
The  former  assigned  as  the  grounds  of  his  request  the  divi- 
sions among  the  people,  the  appearance  of  dissatisfaction 
with  himself,  and  the  little  prospect  of  his  being  useful 

•  Minutes,  p.  66. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  307 

among  them;  the  latter  urged  particularly  the  low  state  of 
his  health.  A  number  of  gentlemen  in  behalf  of  others, 
earnestly  remonstrated  against  the  removal  of  Mr.  Pember- 
ton,  and  the  committee  decided  "  he  should  be  allowed  a 
month's  trial;  and  if,  upon  a  faithful  endeavour  to  heal  the 
divisions,  and  serve  the  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom  among 
them,  he  finds  all  his  attempts  vain,  and  still  continues  his 
desire  of  a  dismission,  they  judge  it  best  he  should  be  left 
at  liberty  to  remove  from,  or  abide  with  them,  as  he  shall 
think  most  consistent  with  his  duty.  As  to  Mr.  Gumming, 
as  no  reasons  have  been  offered  to  the  committee  against 
his  dismission,  the  committee  do  judge  from  what  has  ap- 
peared to  them,  and  for  the  reasons  urged  by  him,  that  his 
pastoral  relation  to  the  presbyterian  congregation  in  New 
York  should  be  dissolved,  and  it  is  dissolved  accordingly. 
It  is  with  pleasure  the  committee  observe  that  there  have 
been  no  objections  against  Mr.  Cumming's  moral  conduct 
or  ministerial  labours;  they  do,  therefore,  freely  recommend 
him,  if  God  shall  please  to  restore  his  health,  to  any  Chris- 
tian congregation  where  Divine  Providence  may  call  him, 
as  a  man  of  eminent  ministerial  gifts  and  abilities,  and  one 
whom  they  think  in  many  respects  fitted  for  special  service 
in  the  church  of  Christ."  ' 

The  affairs  of  this  congregation  were  again  brought  be- 
fore the  synod  in  1755,  by  a  reference  from  the  presbytery 
of  New  York  concerning  the  removal  of  Mr.  Bostwick  from 
Jamaica  to  the  church  in  New  York,  and  settling  the  order 
and  discipline  of  that  church,  which,  after  much  considera- 
tion, was  referred  to  a  committee  to  draw  up  the  judgment 
of  the  synod  thereon.  This  judgment  was  to  the  following 
eflfect:  1.  That  the  synod  were  still  of  the  opinion  formerly 
expressed,  that  the  trustees  had  faithfully  performed  their 

1  Minutes,  p.  68—70. 


308  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

duty;  but  as  the  congregation  were  divided  in  sentiment  as 
to  the  propriety  of  having  such  a  board,  and  had  agreed  not 
to  elect  them  again  in  that  form,  the  synod  approved  of 
that  agreement,  and  judged  that  if  the  congregation  chose 
to  have  a  committee  to  manage  their  secular  affairs,  that 
committee  should  hereafter  be  chosen  by  the  ministers, 
elders,  and  deacons,  with  the  consent  of  the  people.  2.  That 
as  a  number  of  the  congregation  were  much  dissatisfied 
with  the  constant  use  of  Dr.  Watts'  Psalms,  "  the  synod 
determined  that  the  Scotch  version  be  used  equally  with 
the  other  in  the  stated  public  worship  on  the  Lord's  day." 
3.  That  previously  to  the  administration  of  baptism,  the 
minister  shall  inquire  into  the  doctrinal  knowledge  and 
regularity  of  life  of  the  parents,  and  exhort  them  to  instruct 
their  children  in  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christianity 
as  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  comprised  in  the  West- 
minster Confession  and  Catechisms,  which  he  shall  recom- 
mend unto  them.  4.  That  as  complaint  had  been  made  of 
a  number  assuming  the  name  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
Society,  it  shall  be  deemed  irregular  and  censurable  for  a 
part  of  the  congregation  to  form  a  party,  and  to  consider 
themselves  a  society  distinct  from  the  rest.  5.  That  as  to 
the  removal  of  Mr.  Bostwick,  the  people  of  Jamaica  not 
having  been  heard  on  that  affair,  the  synod  were  not  pre- 
pared to  decide,  but  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  at 
Jamaica  and  decide  the  question.  ^  That  committee  met 
accordingly,  October  29,  1755,  but  "not  having  light  to 
come  to  a  full  determination  of  the  affair,"  referred  it  to 
the  commissioner  of  the  synod;  who,  after  mature  delibera- 
tion, decided  in  favour  of  his  removal.  ^ 

The  long  continued  difficulties  in  the  church   in  New 
York,  were  presented  for  the  last  time  to  the  synod  in  1756. 

'  Minutes,  p.  85—87.  ^  Ibid.  p.  103—107. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  309 

A  paper  was  read  from  several  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion, complaining  of  the  grievances  under  which  they  sup- 
posed themselves  to  suffer.  The  synod,  after  severely  cen- 
suring the  disrespectful  terms  in  which  that  paper  was 
couched,  informed  the  complainants,  "  that,  by  adopting 
the  Westminster  Confession  we  only  intended  receiving  it 
as  a  test  of  orthodoxy  in  this  church,  and  it  is  the  order  of 
this  synod  that  all  who  are  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel,  or 
to  become  members  of  any  presbytery  within  our  bounds, 
shall  receive  the  same  as  the  confession  of  their  faith  accord- 
ing to  our  constituting  act,  which  we  see  no  reason  to 
repeal. 

"That  as  to  the  singing  of  Dr.  Watts'  version  of  the 
Psalms,  though  the  conduct  of  the  congregation  in  adher- 
ing to  them  contrary  to  synodical  appointment,  without 
waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  said 
appointment  was  not  regular,  yet  as  the  said  Psalms  are 
orthodox,  and  as  no  particular  version  is  inspired,  and  as 
the  using  them  is  earnestly  desired  by  a  great  majority  of 
the  congregation,  contrary  to  the  view  we  had  of  the  case 
last  year,  the  synod  for  the  sake  of  their  peace  do  permit 
the  use  of  the  said  version  unto  them;  and  determine  that 
this  shall  be  finally  decisive  in  this  affair."  They  then 
declare  that  those  who  refused  to  pay  their  pew  rents  acted 
disorderly,  and  forfeited  their  pews;  that  reading  in  the 
desk  was  "  a  mere  indifferency,"  not  contrary  to  any  divine 
rule,  or  to  the  constitution  of  the  church,  and  therefore  not 
to  be  altered  by  authority.  As  to  the  other  points  brought 
forward  in  the  paper,  they  had  been  already  decided,  to 
which  decisions  the  synod  adhered.  ^ 

These  examples  may  be  deemed  sufficient  to  illustrate 
the  controlling  supervision  exercised  by  the  synod;  and  it 

•  Minutes,  p.  112—114. 


310  PRESBTTERIAN    CHUKCH 

must  be  admitted  that  they  exhibit  a  presbyterianism  suffi- 
ciently stringent.  It  was  also  in  the  exercise  of  ordinary 
synodical  jurisdiction  that  this  body  received  and  formed 
new  presbyteries.  In  1749,  the  presbytery  of  Suffolk,  Long 
Island,  was  received;  in  1751,  those  members  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick  who  resided  in  Philadelphia, 
and  in  New  Jersey  to  the  southward  of  that  city,  were 
formed  into  a  new  presbytery,  and  called  the  presbytery  of 
Abington;  ^  in  1755,  "the  synod  appointed  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Davies,  John  Todd,  Alexander  Creaghead,  Robert  Henry, 
John  Wright,  and  John  Brown,  to  be  a  presbytery,  under 
the  name  of  the  presbytery  of  Hanover,  and  that  their  first 
meeting  shall  be  in  Hanover,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of 
December  next,  and  that  Mr.  Davies  open  the  said  presby- 
tery with  a  sermon;  and  that  any  of  their  members,  (i.  e.  of 
the  synod,)  settling  to  the  southward  and  westward  of  Mr. 
Hoge's  congregation,  shall  have  liberty  to  join  the  said 
presbytery."  ^ 

The  synod  were  sometimes  called  upon  to  decide  ques- 
tions either  in  thesi,  or  with  reference  to  some  special  case. 
Thus,  in  1752,  we  find  the  following  record,  "Whereas  a 
certain  person  pretending  at  Egg-Harbour  to  be  a  minister 
regularly  ordained  among  presbyterians,  and  under  that 
character  baptised  some  adults  and  infants,  and  it  appear- 
ing to  the  synod  that  his  pretences  were  false,  having  at 
that  time  no  license  or  ordination;  it  is  our  opinion  that  all 
the  gospel  ordinances  he  administered  under  that  false  and 
pretended  character,  are  null  and  invalid."  ^ 

In  1753,  "it  being  moved  to  the  synod  what  they  judge 
necessary  as  to  the  form  or  method  to  be  used  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  baptism,  the  synod  do  refer  to  our  excellent 
Directory  in  that  case.     It  being  farther  moved,  whether  a 

J  Minutes,  p.  35.  2  Ibid.  p.  80.  ^  Ibid.  p.  42. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  3JJ 

church-session  hath  power  to  introduce  a  new  version  of 
the  Psalms  into  the  congregation  to  which  they  belong, 
without  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the  said  congrega- 
tion, it  was  voted  in  the  negative:  nemine  contradicente.'^  ^ 
The  character  of  this  synod  is  sufficiently  plain  from  its 
own  proceedings,  but  if  it  were  consistent  wdth  the  object 
and  hmits  of  this  history  to  bring  into  view  the  action  of 
the  several  presbyteries  within  its  bounds,  its  thorough 
presbyterianism  would  be  still  more  apparent.  The  records 
of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  for  example,  furnish 
as  fair  a  specimen  of  regular  presbyterian  government  as 
can  be  presented  by  those  of  any  presbytery,  at  any  period 
in  the  history  of  our  church.  When  first  constituted,  through 
the  abundance  of  its  zeal,  it  paid  little  regard  to  geographi- 
cal limits,  and  would  receive  congregations,  or  supply  them 
with  preaching  no  matter  to  what  presbytery  they  properly 
belonged.  After  the  revival,  however,  it  became  remark- 
ably scrupulous  on  this  point;  and  even  as  early  as  1743, 
exhibited  a  very  commendable  degree  of  caution  in  this 
matter.  This  is  illustrated  by  its  conduct  in  reference  to 
the  church  at  New  Milford,  in  Connecticut.  In  the  month 
of  April,  1743,  at  a  pro  rata  meeting  of  the  presbytery, 
the  following  record  was  made:  "The  special  occasion  of 
the  present  meeting  of  the  presbytery  is  an  application 
made  to  some  of  our  members,  some  time  past,  from  a 
society  in  Milford,  in  New  England,  by  their  commissioners, 
desiring  the  presbytery  to  receive  them  under  their  care, 
and  also  to  take  Mr.  Jacob  Johnson,  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  then  preaching  to  them,  under  trials,  in  order  to 
ordination  to  the  gospel  ministry  among  them;  and  accord- 
ingly said  members  did  send  to  Mr.  Jacob  Johnson  as 
pieces  of  trial,  that  he  prepare  a  sermon  on  Rom.  viii.  14, 
'  Minutes,  p.  59. 


312  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

and  an  exegesis,  in  Latin,  upon  this  question:  An  regimen 
ecclesiae  presbyteriale  sit  Scripturae  et  rationi  congruura  ? 
to  be  delivered  to  the  presbytery  at  this  time,  to  sit  upon 
the  said  occasion.  Now  the  presbytery  being  met  pursuant 
to  the  aforementioned  occasion  and  appointment,  Mr.  Jacob 
Johnson,  together  with  Mr.  Benjamin  Fenn,  and  Mr.  George 
Clerk,  commissioners  from  the  aforesaid  society  in  Milford, 
appeared  and  moved  the  presbytery  to  proceed  in  their 
affair  as  before  mentioned.  The  presbytery  do  agree  to 
take  the  matter  under  consideration,  and  in  order  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  best  and  clearest  manner  they  can,  resolve  to 
inquire  in  the  first  place,  whether  said  society  be  a  regular 
society  capable  of  being  received  under  their  care  and  direc- 
tion, or  not.  And  after  proper  inquiry  and  consideration 
of  the  affair,  as  far  and  as  fully  as  at  present  they  are  able, 
the  presbytery  doth  judge,  that  although  they  cannot  pres- 
byterially  judge  and  determine  any  thing  as  touching  the 
original  reasons  and  grounds  of  their  separation  from  the 
established  congregation  of  that  town,  not  having  sufficient 
evidence  to  proceed  upon  in  that  matter,  nor  does  the  pres- 
bytery think  that  matter  immediately  to  lay  before  them, 
yet  inasmuch  as  the  presbytery  find,  upon  the  verbal  rela- 
tion of  the  aforesaid  commissioners,  confirmed  by  several 
papers  containing  the  narration  of  their  proceedings,  that 
said  society  is  now  a  separate  body  of  the  presbyterian 
denomination,  constituted  agreeably  to,  and  under  protec- 
tion of  the  laws  of  that  colony,  and  no  objections  against 
the  present  proceedings  of  the  new  erected  society  being 
ofiered  to  the  presbytery  by  the  old  congregation,  though 
their  design  was  fully  known  to  them,  the  presbytery  there- 
fore cannot  see  any  just  reason  to  reject  the  motion  and 
request  made  to  them  by  the  said  newly  erected  society  of 
Milford,  do  unanimously  agree   to  take  the   said  society 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  313 

under  their  care  and  government,  and  do  the  best  they  can 
for  them  towards  their  settlement  with  a  minister;  and  so 
they  are  prepared  to  take  the  trials  of  Mr.  Jacob  Johnson, 
in  order  to  judge  of  his  quahlications  for  the  sacred  office 
of  the  ministry  among  them."  The  presbytery  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  examination  of  Mr.  Johnson,  and  after  hav- 
ing made  some  progress,  they  determined  to  stop,  and 
resolved,  1.  That  the  newly  erected  presbyterian  society 
in  Milford  is  to  be  deemed  a  society  capable  to  call  and 
receive  a  minister  for  themselves.  2.  That  the  presbytery 
are  grieved  for  the  breach  thereby  made  in  the  said  town. 
3.  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  said  society  to  seek  a 
reconciliation  with  the  old  society;  and  that  the  presbytery 
do  not  proceed  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Johnson,  until  these 
further  steps  have  been  taken.  4.  That  in  case  the  efforts 
for  a  union  should  fail,  the  society  be  "allowed"  to  call 
and  settle  a  minister,  and  in  the  mean  time  to  have  supplies 
from  settled  ministers  and  approved  candidates.  5.  That 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Treat  visit  Milford,  and  gain  further  informa- 
tion, and  make  a  report  to  presbytery.  ^  In  August  of  the 
same  year,  a  call  was  presented  from  that  congregation  for 
Mr.  Treat,  but  his  removal  being  opposed  by  commissioners 
from  the  congregation  of  Abington,  of  which  he  was  the 
pastor,  the  presbytery  decided  against  his  acceptance  of  the 
call.  2  The  presbytery,  however,  directed  Mr,  Samuel  Fin- 
ley  to  visit  Milford,  "  with  allowance  that  he  preach  in 
other  places  thereabouts,  where  Providence  may  open  a 
door  for  him."  ^ 

At  a  meeting  of  the  presbytery  in  May,  1744,  it  is  stated, 
"  An  important  affair  was  brought  before  presbytery  from 
the  presbyterian  society   of  Milford,  New   England,  the 

'  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  45-47. 

2  Ibid  p.  52,  3  Ibid.  p.  55. 

27 


314  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

determining  of  which  being  of  very  great  consequence,  and 
the  conjunct  presbytery,  (i.  e.  the  united  presbyteries  of 
New  Brunswick  and  Newcastle,)  being  now  convened,  the 
presbytery  think  it  not  best  to  proceed  in  it,  but  to  refer  it 
to  the  determination  of  the  conjunct  presbytery  at  their 
present  meeting."  ^  What  this  affair  was,  or  what  was 
done  in  the  matter,  does  not  appear  from  the  records.  But 
in  1747,  a  call  from  Milford  was  presented  to  the  presby- 
tery for  Mr.  Job  Prudden,  and  accepted  by  him;  where- 
upon the  presbytery,  after  the  usual  examinations,  and  the 
adoption  on  his  part  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Catechisms,  proceeded  to  his  ordination.  ^ 

This  presbytery  was  not  less  circumspect  in  the  reception 
of  new  members.  In  October,  1743,  a  request  was  pre- 
sented from  the  congregation  of  Hopewell,  for  permission 
to  invite  the  famous  Mr.  Davenport  to  preach  for  them 
with  a  view  to  his  settlement  among  them.  "The  pres- 
bytery, in  order  to  get  light  in  the  matter,  thought  it  their 
duty  to  discourse  with  Mr.  Davenport  about  several  things 
they  had  heard  of  in  some  parts  of  his  conduct  in  times 
past,  which  they  could  not  approve  of,  and  were  pleased  to 
hear  Mr.  Davenport  declare  his  conviction  of,  and  humilia- 
tion for  some  things  he  had  been  faulty  in,  although  there 
be  others  which  he  cannot  as  yet  see  and  condemn  which 
the  presbytery  do  disapprove  of  Whereupon  the  presby- 
tery cannot  see  that  the  way  is  clear  for  said  people  to  give 
Mr.  Davenport  a  call  to  settle  among  them;  nevertheless 
that  as  God  has  begun  to  show  him  his  mistakes,  he  may 
be  pleased  to  go  on  in  that  way,  and  being  willing  to  use 
all  means  to  obtain  so  desirable  an  end,  the  presbytery  do 
permit  the  said  people  to  improve  Mr.  Davenport  to  supply 
them  until  the  second  Wednesday  in  May  next,  to  see  what 

•  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  61.  ^  Ibid.  p.  93  and  95. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  315 

may  be  further  done  in  that  affair,  referring  it  to  the  con- 
junct presbytery,  then  to  meet  at  Philadelphia,  to  approve 
or  disapprove  of  this  our  conduct,  and  to  proceed  in  regard 
to  Mr.  Davenport  as  their  way  shall  be  made  clear  to 
them."  '  He  was  not  received  as  a  member  of  the  pres- 
bytery until  1746,  when,  as  the  presbytery  state,  "having 
satisfied  us  of  his  consent  to  the  doctrines  contained  in  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  together  with  our  plan  of 
government,  as  far  as  he  had  inspected  into  the  same,''  he 
was  admitted.  In  1748,  he  was  dismissed  to  the  presby^ 
tery  of  New  York,  "  to  act  under  their  direction,"  in  rela- 
tion to  a  call  which  he  had  received  to  Connecticut  Farms.  ^ 
In  1753,  he  was  again  received  by  the  presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick  from  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  in  order  to 
his  settlement  at  Hopewell.  A  committee  was  appointed 
for  his  installation,  who  reported,  that  owing  "  to  the  mani- 
fest negligence  of  the  people,  they  could  not  proceed  in  that 
affair,  whereupon  the  presbytery  judged  the  conduct  of  the 
said  people  to  be  highly  abusive  both  to  the  presbytery  and 
Mr.  Davenport;  but  said  people  having  made  some  just 
reflections  on  their  conduct,  and  again  presenting  a  call  to 
Mr.  Davenport,  he,  after  some  consideration,  declared  his 
acceptance  of  said  call;"  and  the  presbytery,  "in  conside- 
ration of  the  disappointment  and  damage  sustained  by  the 
delay  of  the  installation  of  Mr.  Davenport,  when  first 
appointed,  through  the  default  of  the  people  of  Hopewell 
and  Maidenhead,  do  order  that  the  said  people  advance 
Mr,  Davenport's  salary  to  seventy  pounds  per  annum  two 
years  sooner  than  was  recommended  to  them  by  the  last 
presbytery."^  His  situation  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
very  agreeable,  as  in  1757,  a  petition  was  presented  for  his 

'  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  58. 

2  Ibid.  p.  101.  3  Ibid.  pp.  114  and  119. 


316  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

removal,  the  consideration  of  which  was  deferred  to  the 
next  meeting,  and  he  died  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  before 
it  was  acted  upon. 

In  the  above  record  we  have  an  example  not  only  of  the 
exercise  of  the  usual  presbyterial  authority  over  a  congrega- 
tion, but  of  something  beyond  it,  especially  in  the  order  to  in- 
crease Mr.  Davenport's  salary.  This  was  a  matter  in  which 
the  presbytery  often  interfered.  In  1750,  they  passed  a 
standing  rule,  that  at  least  once  a  year  they  would  "  inquire 
of  the  elders  how  their  respective  ministers  were  supported, 
and  their  salaries  paid."  ^  If  after  such  inquiry  the  people 
were  found  deficient,  the  presbytery  censured  them,  and 
"ordered  them  to  give  information  to  the  next  presbytery" 
what  they  had  done  to  secure  the  payment  of  the  pastor;^ 
or  the  people  were  "  ordered  to  make  up  the  deficiency 
before  the  next  meeting  of  the  presbytery."  ^ 

The  presbytery  also  assumed  the  right  of  granting  or 
refusing  liberty  to  one  or  more  members  of  one  congre- 
gation to  join  another.  Thus,  "  Mr.  Jacob  Reader,  a 
member  of  the  congregation  of  Hopewell,  made  a  request 
that  for  the  sake  of  the  convenience  of  his  family,  the  pres- 
bytery would  be  pleased  to  dismiss  him  from  the  aforesaid 
congregation,  that  he  may  join  with  Amwell.  And  the 
presbytery,  taking  into  consideration  said  request,  judge  it 
to  be  reasonable,  and  grant  it."  "*  At  another  time  a  peti- 
tion from  a  number  of  persons  "to  be  discharged  from  Mr. 
Davenport  was  presented  and  granted."  ^  At  the  present 
day  few  members  of  the  church  would  think  of  troubling 
the  presbytery  with  such  requests,  and  few  presbyteries 
would  think  of  exercising  jurisdiction  in  the  case. 

'  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  155. 

2  Ibid.  p.  163.  3  Ibid,  see  pp.  200,  203,  204,  251,  &c.  &,c, 

"  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  5.  ^  ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  15. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  3I'7 

This  presbytery  moreover  exercised  the  right  of  deciding 
how  a  minister's  time  should  be  apportioned  between  the 
several  branches  of  his  congregation,  and  whether  new 
places  of  worship  should  be  erected  or  not.     In  1752,  "a 
petition  was  presented  from  King  wood  for  liberty  to  build 
a   meeting-house   for   their  own  convenience;   and  after 
hearing  said  affair,  and  deliberating  thereupon,  the  presby- 
tery," it  is  said,  «  do  grant  their  petition  and  order  that 
henceforth  that  half  of  Mr.  Lewis'  time  which  has  been 
hitherto  spent  in  the  Western  Branch  be  equally  divided 
between  Bethlehem  and  Kingwood,  and  that  each  part  pay 
in  proportion  to  their  time."  '     In  those  days  the  villages 
of  Kingston  and  Princeton,  three  miles  apart,  formed  one 
parish,  and  the  people  of  Princeton  wished  to  have  a  sepa- 
rate place  of  worship,  and  a  certain  portion  of  the  pastor's 
time,  but  their  requests  were  repeatedly  disallowed.  ^     In 
1755,  amotion  Avas  again  "made  in  behalf  of  Princeton 
for  supplies,  and  for  liberty  to  build  a  meeting-house  there," 
and  the   presbytery,  it  is  said,  "do   grant  liberty  to  the 
people  of  the  said  town  to  build  a  meeting-house."  ^ 

The  control  exercised  by  the  presbytery  over  its  own 
members  was  no  less  strict.  An  example  has  already  been 
given  of  the  presbytery's  deciding  what  portion  of  a  minis- 
ter's time  should  be  given  to  each  of  the  several  congrega- 
tions under  his  care.  We  find  too  that  licentiates,  if  they 
wished  to  officiate  out  of  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery  to 
which  they  belonged,  obtained  special  permission  for  that 
purpose.  Thus  in  1755,  the  presbytery  gave  "  Mr.  Hait 
free  liberty  to  officiate  within  the  bounds  of  the  Newcastle 
presbytery  as  much  of  the  time  before  next  commencement, 
as  he  inclines  to  improve  for  that  purpose."     This  permis- 

'  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  200. 

2  Ibid.  pp.  180  and  192.  3  ibid.  pp.  233  and  236. 

27* 


318  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

sion  was  granted  in  consequenf-e,  it  is  stated,  "of  an  earnest 
request  from  our  Reverend  brethren  of  the  Newcastle  pres- 
bytery, that  we  would  assist  them  with  respect  to  the  vast 
number  of  vacant  congregations  under  their  care  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  besides  fourteen  con- 
gregations in  North  Carolina,  who  have  applied  to  them 
for  gospel  ministers,  whose  circumstances  are  peculiarly 
distressing  and  dangerous;  in  which  letter  is  also  a  par- 
ticular request  that  Mr.  Benjamin  Hait  may  be  allowed  to 
join  them,  or  at  least  to  help  them  this  summer."^  It  is, 
therefore,  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  these  presbyteries 
were  distinguished  for  a  loose  form  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment. They  carried  out  the  principles  of  presbyterianism 
much  further  than  is  now  common  among  us. 

The  character  of  the  synod  of  New  York  may  be  still 
further  illustrated  by  a  reference  to  the  fact  that  they  con- 
formed to  the  Scottish  usage,  as  thoroughly  as  the  old  synod 
of  Philadelphia.  In  the  first  place,  after  the  manner  of  the 
church  in  Scotland,  they  had  a  commission,  which  sat 
during  the  intervals  of  synod,  clothed  with  full  synodical 
powers.  This  commission  was  appointed  regularly  every 
year.  ^ 

In  the  second  place  they  frequently  appointed  committees 
with  plenary  powers  to  decide  particular  cases.  Thus  in 
1750,  when  the  German  church  at  Rockaway  applied  to  be 
taken  under  the  care  of  the  synod,  Messrs.  Pierson,  Burr, 
Arthur,  Smith,  and  Spencer,  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  visit  the  place,  ascertain  the  facts,  and  decide  upon  the 
application.^  In  1753,  the  committee  sent  to  New  York, 
received  the  request  of  the  ministers  to  be  dismissed  from 

>  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  233. 

2  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  pp.  5.  8.  16.  32.  76.  100.  121.  130. 

3  Ibid.  p.  25. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  319 

their  pastoral  charge;  and  decided  against  the  immediate 
removal  of  Mr.  Pemberton,  but  dissolved  the  connexion 
between  Mr.  Gumming  and  that  congregation.  ^  In  1755, 
a  committee  was  appointed  with  authority  to  dismiss  Mr. 
Bostwick  from  Jamaica,  with  a  view  to  his  removal  to 
New  York;  they  referred  the  matter  to  the  commission  by 
whom  the  transfer  was  effected.  ^  In  the  presbyteries  this 
method  of  acting  by  committees  was  still  more  frequently 
resorted  to.  Men  were  licensed,  ordained,  and  dismissed 
by  committees  specially  appointed  for  the  purpose.  ^  It 
was  not  competent,  however,  for  these  committees  to 
assume  presbyterial  powers  except  for  the  special  purpose 
of  their  appointment.  Hence  in  1750,  when  application 
was  made  to  the  committee  appointed  to  license  Mr.  Todd, 
to  make  arrangements  for  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Campbell, 
it  was  decided  "  that  being  only  a  committee  they  cannot 
proceed  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  C.  or  make  any  appoint- 
ment therefor."  "* 

In  the  third  place,  the  synod  frequently  acted  in  a  pres- 
byterial capacity.  The  most  common  occasion  for  the  exer- 
cise of  such  powers  was  the  appointment  of  supplies  for 
vacant  congregations.  This  was  done  by  the  synod  not 
merely  in  its  character  of  a  missionary  society,  but  in  that 
of  a  large  presbytery,  having  the  oversight  over  all  the 
churches,  and  the  direction  of  all  its  members.  Thus  in 
1753,  they  appointed  Mr.  Blair,  Mr.  Bay,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr. 
Finley,  and  Mr.  Rodgers,  to  supply  Mr.  Davies'  congre- 
gation during  his  absence,  and  then  appointed  supplies  for 
the  congregations  of  those  ministers.  In  like  manner  Mr. 
Treat,  Mr.  William  Tennent,  Mr.  Beatty,  Mr.  Burr,  Mr. 

'  Minutes,  p.  66—70.  2  Jbid.  p.  103—105. 

3  See  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  pp.   59.   62.  86.  93.  130. 
148,  &c.  &,c.  4  Ibid.  p.  146. 


320  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Pemberton,  and  Mr.  Gumming  were  directed  to  preach, 
each  four  sabbaths  for  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent's  congregation.  ^ 
In  1754,  an  appUcation  being  received  from  Hanover  for 
further  suppUes,  the  synod  sent  Mr.  Greenmau  to  them,  and 
directed  Mr.  Clark,  a  candidate  under  the  care  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  York,  to  preach  for  Mr.  Greenman  during 
his  absence.  In  1756,  the  committee  of  synod  sent  to 
Jamaica  to  decide  on  Mr.  Bostwick's  removal,  though  they 
did  not  dismiss  him,  directed  him  to  preach  most  of  the 
winter  in  New  York,  and  then  appointed  supplies  for  his 
congregation.  And  the  commission  did  the  same  thing, 
when  they  decided  on  his  final  removal  to  New  York.  It 
was  a  common  practice,  when  the  synod  sent  any  of  their 
members  on  a  distant  mission,  for  them  to  take  upon  them- 
selves the  duty  of  making  provision  for  their  congregations. 
And  even  when  there  was  no  special  reason  for  it,  appli- 
cations were  made  directly  to  the  synod.  Thus  in  1757,  a 
commissioner  from  Newark  requested  supplies  for  that  con- 
gregation, and  the  synod  appointed  Mr.  Treat  to  preach  for 
them  for  three  sabbaths,  and  as  much  more  as  he  could.  ^ 
Sometimes  one  presbytery  was  directed  to  supply  the  con- 
gregations within  the  bounds  of  another.  Thus  "in  order 
to  supply  the  congregations,"  it  is  said,  "  of  those  ministers 
who  are  gone  to  the  southward,  the  synod  appoint  the 
presbyteries  of  New  Brunswick  and  Abington  to  supply 
within  the  bounds  of  New  York  presbytery,  each  four  sab- 
baths; and  the  presbytery  of  Suffolk  to  supply  either  New 
York  or  Jamaica,  as  need  shall  be,  each  member  two  sab- 
baths." 3 

Even  calls  for  ministers,  and  applications  from  congrega- 
tions to  be  taken  under  the  care  of  the  synod,  were  at  times 
directed  immediately  to  them  and  not  to  a  presbytery.     In 

1  Minutes,  p.  59.  2  Ibid.  p.  127.  »  Ibid.  p.  89. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  321 

174S,  "a  call  was  brought  into  synod  from  Falling  Spring 
and  New  Providence,  for  Mr.  By  ram,  the  acceptance^  of 
which  he  declined."  ^  The  German  congregation  of  Rock- 
away  applied  immediately  to  the  synod  to  be  taken  into 
connexion  with  our  church,  and  they  entertained  the  appli- 
cation. The  whole  action  of  the  synod,  in  reference  to  the 
congregation  in  New  York,  was  presbyterial  rather  than 
synodical.  A  committee  of  the  synod  selected  and  nomi- 
nated elders;  received  and  decided  complaints  against  the 
pastors,  one  of  whom,  at  his  own  request,  they  dismissed 
conditionally,  and  the  other  definitively.  The  synod,  or  its 
commission,  moreover  decided  what  version  of  the  Psalms 
should  be  used,  and  transferred  Mr.  Bostwick  from  one 
church  to  another.  Some  of  these  cases  were  indeed  brought 
up,  by  reference  from  the  presbytery;  but  in  most  of  them 
the  synod  exercised  original  jurisdiction. 

It  appears,  then,  from  this  review,  that  the  synod  of 
New  York  was  a  strictly  presbyterian  body.  They  not 
only  declared  the  church  of  Scotland  to  be  their  mother 
church,  and  claimed  to  be  united  with  her  "  in  the  same 
faith,  order,  and  discipline,"  having  adopted  her  standards 
both  of  doctrine  and  government,  but  in  all  their  measures 
and  modes  of  action  they  adhered  to  the  presbyterian  sys- 
tem. There  was  not  only  the  regular  exercise  of  sessional, 
presbyterial,  and  synodical  supervision,  but  the  control 
exercised  over  ministers  and  churches  was  more  direct  and 
extended  than  that  to  which  we  are  accustomed.  And  fur- 
ther, in  the  regular  appointment  of  a  commission,  in  the 
frequent  use  of  committees  with  full  powers,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  presbyterial  functions,  this  synod  conformed  to 
the  usages  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  more  nearly  than  our 

1  Minutes,  p.  11.  ^  ibid.  p.  25. 


322  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

church  has  ever  done  since  the  formation  of  our  present 
constitution. 

This  synod  was  no  less  distinguished  for  its  zeal  for  sound 
learning  and  evangelical  religion.  It  embraced  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  best  educated,  as  well  as  of  the  most  fer- 
vent and  pious  ministers  of  the  church.  The  field,  which 
they  had  to  cultivate,  was  so  extensive,  and  was  so  rapidly 
filling  with  inhabitants,  that  it  required  the  most  laborious 
exertion  to  keep  it  even  tolerably  supplied.  The  members 
of  the  synod  were  therefore  obliged  to  make  long  and  fre- 
quent journeys,  and  to  give  themselves  up  to  their  work 
with  a  devotion  which  would  now  be  deemed  extraordi- 
nary. Perhaps  there  is  no  ecclesiastical  body  to  which  our 
church  and  country  are  more  indebted  than  to  this  synod  of 
New  York. 

It  only  remains  to  give  an  account  of  the  negotiations 
which  led  to  the  union  of  the  two  synods.  The  first  over- 
tures were  made  by  the  synod  of  New  York  in  1749,  when 
it  was  carried,  "by  a  great  majority  of  votes,"  that  the  fol- 
lowing proposals  should  be  sent  to  the  synod  of  Philadel- 
phia, viz. 

"The  synod  of  New  York  are  deeply  sensible  of  the 
many  unhappy  consequences  that  flow  from  our  present 
divided  state;  and  have,  with  pleasure,  observed  a  spirit 
of  moderation  increasing  between  many  members  of  both 
synods.  This  opens  a  door  of  hope,  that  if  we  were  united 
in  one  body,  we  might  be  able  to  carry  on  the  designs  of 
religion  in  future  peace  and  agreement,  to  our  mutual  satis- 
faction. And  though  we  retain  the  same  sentiments  of  the 
work  of  God  which  we  formerly  did,  yet  we  esteem  mutual 
forbearance  our  duty,  since  we  all  profess  the  same  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Directory  for  worship.     We  would, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  323 

therefore,  humbly  propose  to  our  brethren  of  the  synod  of 
Philadelphia,  that  all  our  former  differences  be  buried  in 
perpetual  oblivion;  and  that,  for  the  time  to  come,  Sth 
synods  be  united  in  one,  and  that  henceforth  there  be  no 
contentions  among  us,  but  to  carry  towards  each  other  in 
the  most  peaceable  and  brotherly  manner,  which  we  are 
persuaded  will  be  for  the  honour  of  our  Master,  the  credit 
of  our  profession,  and  the  edification  of  the  churches  com- 
mitted to  our  care.  Accordingly  we  appoint  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  John  Pierson,  Gilbert  Tennent,  Ebenezer  Pember- 
ton,  and  Aaron  Burr,  to  be  our  delegates  to  wait  upon  the 
synod  of  Philadelphia  with  these  proposals;  and  if  the 
synod  of  Philadelphia  see  meet  to  join  with  us  in  this  de- 
sign, and  will  please  to  appoint  a  commission  to  meet  for 
that  purpose,  we  appoint  the  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Pierson, 
Ebenezer  Pemberton,  Aaron  Burr,  Gilbert  and  William 
Tennent,  Richard  Treat,  Sam.uel  and  John  Blair,  John 
Roan,  Samuel  Finley,  Ebenezer  Prime,  David  Bostwick, 
and  James  Brown,  (whom  we  appoint  a  commission  of  the 
synod  for  the  ensuing  year,)  to  meet  with  the  commission 
of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  at  such  time  and  place  as 
they  shall  choose,  to  determine  the  affair  of  the  union 
agreeably  to  the  preliminary  articles  determined  upon  by 
this  synod.  And  it  is  agreed  that  any  other  of  our  mem- 
bers, who  shall  please  to  meet  with  the  commission,  shall 
have  liberty  of  voting  and  acting  in  said  affair  equally  with 
the  members  of  said  commission.  Which  articles  proposed 
as  a  general  plan  of  union,  are  as  follows,  viz. 

"1.  To  preserve  the  common  peace  we  would  propose 
that  all  names  of  distinction,  which  have  been  made  use  of 
in  the  late  times,  be  for  ever  abolished. 

"2.  That  every  member  assent  unto  and  adopt  the  Con- 
fession  of    Faith   and   Directory,   according    to   the   plan 


324  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

formerly  agreed  to  by  the  synod  of  Pliiladelphia,  in  the 


years . 

^3.  That  every  member  promise,  that  after  any  ques- 
tion has  been  determined  by  the  major  vote,  he  will  active- 
ly concur,  or  passively  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  body. 
But  if  his  conscience  permit  him  to  do  neither  of  these,  that 
then  he  shall  be  obHged  peaceably  to  withdraw  from  our 
synodical  communion,  without  any  attempt  to  make  a 
schism  or  division  among  us.  Yet  this  is  not  intended  to 
extend  to  any  cases  but  those  which  the  synod  judge  essen- 
tial in  matters  of  doctrine  or  discipUne. 

"  4.  That  all  our  respective  congregations  and  vacancies 
be  acknowledged  as  congregations  belonging  to  the  synod, 
but  continue  under  the  care  of  the  same  presbyteries  as 
now  they  are,  until  a  favourable  opportunity  presents  for 
an  advantageous  alteration. 

"  5.  That  we  all  agree  to  esteem  and  treat  it  as  a  cen- 
surable evil  to  accuse  any  of  our  members  of  error  in  doc- 
trine, or  immorality  in  conversation,  any  otherwise  than  by 
private  reproof,  till  the  accusation  has  been  brought  before 
a  regular  judicature,  and  issued  according  to  the  known 
rules  of  our  discipline."  ^ 

The  synod  of  Philadelphia  having  acceded  to  the  propo- 
sal for  a  conference,  the  commissioners  of  the  two  synods 
met  at  Trenton,  October  5,  1749.  From  the  minutes  of  this 
meeting  it  appears  that  "  the  commissioners  of  the  synod  of 
New  York  considering  the  protest  of  the  synod  of  Philadel- 
phia, whereby  they  excluded  from  their  communion  the 
presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  and  their  adherents,  as  one 
principal  bar  to  an  union,  waving  all  other  matters,  imme- 
diately insisted  that  said  protest  should,  by  some  authentic 
and  formal  act  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  be  made  null 

<  Minutes,  p.  15—17. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  325 

and  void.     The  debates  on  this  head  rose  very  high,  and 
there  appearing  no  prospect  of  accommodation,  the  c«n- 
missioners  of  both  synods  came  unanimously  into  this  con- 
clusion, viz.  that,  whereas,  certain  difficulties  arose  in  the 
conversation  of  the  commissioners  of  both  synods,  they 
came  finally  unanimously  into  this  agreement,  that  both 
synods  at  their  next  sessions  do  more  fully  prepare  propo- 
sals for  an  accommodation,  and  interchange  said  proposals; 
and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  there  be  a  mutual  endeavour  to 
cultivate  a  spirit  of  candour  and  friendship.     At  the  same 
time  these  principal  things  were  especially  recommended  to 
the  consideration  of  their  respective  synods:  1.  The  protest. 
2.  That  paragraph  about  essentials.     3.  Of  presbyteries.'" 
From  the  report  of  the  commissioners  made  to  the  synod 
of  Philadelphia,  relating  to  this  meeting,  it  appears  that, 
"  the  delegates  from  the  synod  of  New  York  agreed  to  the 
following  concessions  and  amendments  in  the  aforemention- 
ed proposals,  which,  according  to  the  references  in  them, 
are  as  follows:  1  '  Though  great  and  good  men  have  been 
of  different  opinions,  (about  the   revival.')     2.  'Always 
reserving  a  liberty  for  such  dissenting  member  to  lay  his 
grievances  before   synod  in  a  peaceable  manner.     N.  B. 
What  remains  of  the  sentence  to  be  erased.'     (This  amend- 
ment relates  to  article  three,  in  the  New  York  proposals.) 
3.  That  there  be  no  intrusions  into  the  bounds  of  presbyte- 
ries or  pastoral  charges,  against  the  inclination  of  the  pres- 
byteries or  pastors.     4.  That  all  candidates  for  the  work  of 
the  sacred  ministry  either  be  examined  and  approved  by 
the  synod  or  its  commission,  previous  to  their  admission 
upon  trials  by  any  of  our  presbyteries,  or  else  that  they  be 
obliged  to  obtain  a  college  diploma,  or  a  certificate  from 
the  president  or  trustees  of  the  college,  that  they  have  been 

'  See  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  p.  21. 
28 


326  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

examined  and  found  qualified.     Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent  only 
objected  against  the  synodical  examination."  ^ 

The  synod  of  New  York  received,  in  May,  1750,  the 
report  of  their  commissioners,  of  the  failure  of  the  confer- 
ence at  Trenton,  and  deferred  further  action  on  the  subject 
until  their  meeting  in  the  autumn.  Proposals  were  then 
prepared  which  differed  but  little  from  those  at  first  offered. 
The  first  article  provides  for  the  adoption  of  the  Confession 
and  Directory.  The  second  relates  to  the  decisions  of  the 
synod,  and  is  nearly  in  the  same  words  as  the  former  arti- 
cle relating  to  the  same  subject.  The  third  is  against  rash 
judging.  The  fourth  provides  "that  no  candidate  shall  be 
taken  upon  trials  by  any  presbytery  without  a  degree,  or 
certificate  from  the  president  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
tutors  or  trustees  of  some  college,  testifying  to  the  suffi- 
ciency of  his  learning,  except  in  cases  extraordinary,  in 
which  the  presbyteries  shall  be  accountable  to  the  synod 
for  their  conduct."  The  fifth  was  "  that  it  shall  be  treated 
as  irregular  for  any  minister  or  candidate  to  preach,  or  per- 
form olher  ministerial  offices  in  the  congregations  of  other 
ministers  belonging  to  our  body,  contrary  to  their  minds. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  shall  be  esteemed  unbrotherly  for  any 
minister  to  refuse  his  consent,  without  weighty  reasons, 
"when  amicably  desired."  The  sixth  provides  for  the  pres- 
byteries and  congregations  remaining  as  they  then  were. 
The  seventh  requires  "  that  the  protestation  made  in  the 
synod  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1741,  be  declared  hence- 
forth void  and  of  none  eftect;  and  that  the  proposed  union 
shall  not  be  understood  to  imply  an  agreement  or  consent 
to  said  protestation  on  the  part  of  this  synod."  And  final- 
ly, "forasmuch  as  this  synod  doth  believe,  as  they  have 
before  declared,  that  a  glorious  work  of  God's  Spirit  was 

1  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  iii.  p.  34. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  327 

carried  on  in  the  late  religious  appearances;  though  we 
doubt  not  but  there  were  several  follies  and  extravagancies 
of  people,  and  artifices  of  Satan  intermixed  therewith;  it 
would  be  pleasing  and  desirable  for  us,  and  what  we  hope 
for,  that  both  synods  may  come  so  far  to  agree  in  their  sen- 
timents about  it,  as  to  give  their  joint  testimony  thereto."^ 

To  these  proposals  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  replied, 
1,  That  it  was  unreasonable  to  make  the  declaration  that 
the  protest  of  1741  was  void,  a  term  of  communion,  since 
the  synod  of  Philadelphia  had  declared  that  they  would  act 
towards  their  brethren  of  New  York  as  though  that  protest 
had  never  been  made.  If  any  thing  more  was  intended  by 
declaring  it  void,  they  were  not  prepared  for  it,  as  they 
believed  it  had  been  made  on  sufficient  and  justifiable 
grounds.  2.  They  objected  to  the  presbyteries  remaining 
as  they  then  were,  as  they  considered  it  essential  to  the 
peace  of  the  church  that  the  distinction  between  old  and 
new-side  presbyteries  should  be  done  away.  3.  They  ob- 
jected to  making  a  testimony  to  the  revival  a  term  of  com- 
munion, as  the  commissioners  from  New  York  had  admit- 
ted that  great  and  good  men  differed  on  that  subject;  and 
as  the  synod  itself  acknowledged  that  it  was  mixed  with 
extravagancies,  and  artifices  of  Satan.  Before  such  a  tes- 
timony could  be  given,  it  must  be  known  what  was  regard- 
ed as  genuine,  and  what  as  spurious.  4.  They  agreed  that 
all  the  members  of  the  synod  of  New  York  should  be  mem- 
bers of  the  united  synod,  but  they  thought  that  where  minis- 
ters had  unjustly  intruded  into  their  congregations,  and  ren- 
dered them  too  feeble  to  support  their  pastors,  something 
should  be  done  to  rectify  the  evil. 

For  a  further  exposition  of  their  views  they  refer  the 
synod  of  New  York  to  the  proposals  sent  to  them  after  the 

1  Minutes  of  the  synod  of  New  York,  p.  27,  28. 


328  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Trenton  conference,  but  before  the  reception  of  those  above 
stated  from  New  York.  They  particularly  refer  the  synod 
of  New  York  to  the  article  respecting  the  decision  of  affairs 
by  majority  of  votes.  "We  apprehend,"  they  say,  "it  is 
strictly  presbyterian  and  reasonable,  and  are  not  convinced 
the  alteration  in  that  article  proposed  by  you,  about  what 
is  essential  and  what  is  not,  is  necessary;  ^  nay,  we  appre- 
hend that  such  an  alteration  as  stated  by  you  has  a  bad 
aspect,  and  opens  a  door  for  an  unjustifiable  latitude  in 
principles  and  practices."  They  express  their  satisfaction 
at  the  proposal  that  candidates  should  bring  a  college  certi- 
ficate ;  and,  as  that  answered  every  purpose,  they  with- 
drew their  alternative  about  synodical  examination.  ^ 

The  proposals  sent  from  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  to 
that  of  New  York,  before  the  reception  of  those  to  which 
the  above  objections  refer,  were  substantially  as  follows: 
1.  That  all  names  of  distinction  be  abolished.  2.  That  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Directory  be  adopted  "  according 
to  the  plan  agreed  on  in  our  synod,  and  that  no  acts  be 
made  but  concerning  matters  which  appear  plain  duty,  or 
concerning  opinions  that  we  believe  relate  to  the  great 
truths  of  religion,  and  that  all  public  and  fundamental 
agreements  of  this  synod  stand  safe."  3.  Makes  the  usual 
provision  for  conscientious  dissentients.  4.  Against  rash 
judging.  5.  Relates  to  intrusions  and  reception  of  candi- 
dates. On  these  three  points  the  two  synods  were  already 
agreed.  6.  It  was  proposed  that  presbyteries  should  be 
made  np  of  the  ministers  who  lived  contiguous  to  one 
another;  but  if  any  minister  was  dissatisfied,  he  might  join 

'  As  the  commissioners  from  New  York  at  the  Trenton  conference  agreed 
to  erase  that  part  of  the  article  which  made  the  distinction  referred  to,  its 
being  introduced  anew  by  the  synod  of  New  York,  is  called  "  an  alteration." 

2  See  Minutes  of  synod  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  iii.  pp.  36—39. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  329 

what  presbytery  he  pleased.  7.  With  regard  to  the  divided 
congregations,  or  new  erections,  as  they  were  called,  it  was 
proposed  that  where  each  party  was  able  to  support  a 
minister,  both  should  continue;  where  neither  was  thus 
able,  efforts  should  be  made  to  unite  them;  and  "where 
new  erections  have  been  made  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
former  standing  congregations,  and  said  erections  supplied 
with  ministers,  said  ministers  be  removed,  and  all  proper 
methods  be  taken  to  heal  the  breach." 

These  proposals  were  received  by  the  synod  of  New 
York  in  1751,  who  made  to  them  the  following  objections. 
1.  "Though  the  synod  make  no  acts  but  concerning  mat- 
ters of  plain  duty  or  opinions  relating  to  the  great  truths  of 
religion;  yet  as  every  thing  that  appears  plain  duty  and 
truth  unto  the  body,  may  appear  at  the  same  time  not  to  be 
essential;  so  we  judge  that  no  member  or  members  should 
be  obliged  to  withdraw  from  our  communion  upon  his  or 
their  not  being  able  actively  to  concur  or  passively  submit, 
unless  the  matter  be  judged  essential  in  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline." 2.  They  objected  of  course  to  the  public  acts  of 
the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  made  since  the  schism,  being 
binding  on  the  united  body.  3.  They  thought  it  would  not  be 
for  peace  or  edification  in  any  measure  to  coerce  the  union 
of  divided  congregations.  4.  As  they  had  a  college  there 
was  no  need  of  the  alternative  plan,  of  synodical  exami- 
nation of  candidates.  ^ 

The  letter  from  the  Philadelphia  synod,  above  mentioned, 
containing  strictures  on  the  New  York  proposals,  was  not 
received  by  the  synod  of  New  York  until  1752,  when  on 
account  of  the  pressure  of  other  business,  they  returned  a 
very  short  reply,  in  which  they  say:  "  We  shall  endeavour 
to  give  it  a  calm  and  deliberate  consideration,  and  hope  we 

'  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  p,  35. 

28* 


330  PRESBrTERIAN  CHURCH 

shall  return  you  such  an  answer  as  shall  give  you  con- 
vincing evidence  that  we  entertain  the  most  affectionate 
desires  of  peace  and  union  upon  such  a  bottom  as  may 
contribute  to  the  peace  and  comfort  of  all  our  churches."  ^ 
This  answer  they  gave  at  their  next  meeting  in  1753. 
They  justify  their  insisting  on  the  protest  being  declared 
void,  on  the  ground  that  if  it  was  a  judicial  act,  it  must 
stand  in  full  force  and  virtue,  unless  it  be  repealed  by  an 
equal  act;  and  that  their  uniting  with  them  without  its 
repeal  would  be  an  implicit  approbation  of  it.  They  in- 
sisted that  presbyteries  and  congregations  should  remain  as 
they  were,  as  it  would  produce  but  a  jarring  concord  to  force 
people  together  faster  than  they  have  clearness  to  go.  As 
to  the  joint  testimony  to  the  revival  previously  proposed,  it 
was  not  designed  as  a  term  of  communion,  but  a  desirable 
thing;  as  they  hoped  that  upon  friendly  conference  the 
difference  on  that  subject  would  not  be  found  to  be  as  great 
as  it  had  seemed.  That  no  dissenting  member  should  be 
obliged  to  withdraw  from  their  communion,  unless  the 
matter  be  judged  by  the  body  essential  in  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline, they  say,  appeared  to  them  to  be  strictly  christian 
and  scriptural,  as  well  as  presbyterian,  and  not  liable  to  the 
objection  of  unjustifiable  latitude,  as  the  synod  had  the 
power  of  judging  what  is  essential  and  what  is  not, - 

This  latter  point  does  not  appear  to  have  been  again 
adverted  to,  or  to  have  given  any  further  trouble.  Neither 
synod  was  disposed  to  make  "  every  truth  or  duty"  a  term 
of  communion;  and  each  had  made  the  adoption  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  a  condition  of  admission 
into  the  sacred  office.  The  article  in  question  indeed  did 
not  relate  to  the  admission  of  members,  but  to  their  exclu- 
sion ;  and  is  therefore  analogous  to  those  provisions  of  our 

>  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  p.  43.  2  Ibid.  p.  55.  &c. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  331 

present  constitution  which  declare,  that  in  case  of  process 
against  a  minister,  "  errors  should  be  carefully  considered, 
whether  they  strike  at  the  vitals  of  religion,  and  are  indus- 
triously spread,  or  whether  they  arise  from  the  weakness 
of  the  human  understanding,  and  are  not  likely  to  do  much 
injury;"  and  which  direct,  "That  a  minister  under  process 
for  heresy  or  schism  should  be  treated  with  Christian  and 
brotherly  tenderness.  Frequent  conferences  ought  to  be 
held  with  him,  and  proper  admonitions  administered.  For 
some  more  dangerous  errors,  however,  suspension  may 
become  necessary."  ^ 

It  has  already  been  proved  ^  that  this  synod  did  not 
make  adherence  to  the  mere  essential  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
the  condition  of  ministerial  communion.  This  is  indeed 
evident  from  the  form  of  expression  adopted  in  the  article 
itself,  which  speaks  of  what  is  essential  "  in  doctrine  or  dis- 
cipline." The  discipline  intended  is  the  discipline  adopted 
by  the  synod,  and  the  doctrine  intended  is  the  system  of 
doctrine  which  they  had  adopted.  This  interpretation  is 
expressly  asserted  to  be  the  meaning  of  this  language  by 
the  members  of  the  synod  themselves;  ^  and  it  is  the  only 
one  at  all  consistent  with  the  official  declarations  of  the 
body  that  they  had  adopted  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  "as  the  test  of  orthodoxy"  among  them,-*  and  that 
they  had  the  same  standard  of  doctrine  as  the  church  of 
Scotland.  At  the  very  time  that  these  negotiations  were 
going  on,  the  synod  of  New  York  had  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harker 
under  process  for  teaching  doctrines  which  had  an  Armi- 
nian  tendency,  ^  and  for  which,  after  the  union  of  the  two 

'  Book  of  Discipline,  chap.  V.  §§  13,  14.         2  Chap.  III.  p.  206,  &c. 
3  See  chap.  III.  p.  201.  4  Chap.  VI.  p.  309. 

8  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  p.  136.     "  A  reference  was  brought  into 
synod  from  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  respecting  Mr.  Samuel  Harker 


332  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

synods  he  was  suspended.  "  That  therefore,"  says  Mr. 
John  Blair,  "  is  an  essential  error  in  the  synod's  sense,  which 
is  of  such  mahgnity  as  to  subvert  or  greatly  to  injure  the 
system  of  doctrine  and  mode  of  worship  and  government 
contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Directory."  ^ 

In  1754,  a  letter  was  sent  from  the  synod  of  Philadelphia 
to  that  of  New  York,  which  is  not  on  record,  containing  a 
request  for  a  renewed  conference.  A  committee  was  con- 
sequently appointed  to  attend  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  at 
their  next  meeting. "  The  result  of  this  conference  was, 
that  the  Philadelphia  brethren  proposed,  that  all  previous 
diiferences  should  be  dropped,  and  the  two  synods  should 
unite  "  as  two  contiguous  bodies  of  Christians  agreed  in 
principle,  as  though  they  had  never  been  concerned  with 
one  another  before,  nor  had  any  differences."  The  Nevi^ 
York  brethren,  however,  were  not  satisfied  with  this  pro- 
posal, but  insisted  that  "the  protestation  made  in  1741, 
should  be  withdrawn."  When  this  result  was  communi- 
cated to  the  synod  of  Philadelphia,  they  said  they  saw  not 
what  they  could  propose  further.  As  to  the  protest,  they 
had  frequently  declared  they  would  act  in  case  of  an  union 
as  though  it  never  had  been  made;  that  as  every  member 

one  of  their  members,  as  having  imbibed  and  vented  certain  erroneous  doc- 
trines. The  synod,  after  serious  consideration  liad,  do  agree,  that  inasmuch 
as  Mr.  Harlier  is  absent,  they  cannot  proceed  to  a  regular  determination  of 
said  affair  ;  and  do  therefore  appoint  Messrs.  Gilbert  Tennent,  Richard  Treat, 
Samuel  Finley,  and  John  Blair,  to  deal  with  him,  as  they  shall  have  oppor- 
tunity, in  such  manner  as  shall  appear  to  them  best  adapted  for  his  convic- 
tion, and  refer  the  further  determination  to  the  ne.xt  synod,  if  there  shall  be 
need.  And  in  the  mean  time  the  synod  does  recommend  it  to  the  presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick  to  take  such  measures  as  they  shall  judge  best  to  prevent 
the  spread  and  hurtful  influence  of  those  errors." 

1  The  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  vindicated,  p.  11. 

2  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  p   71, 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  333 

had  a  right  to  protest,  the  judicature  could  neither  forbid  it, 
nor  annul  or  withdraw  such  protest  when  made;  it  was 
solely  in  the  power  of  the  protesters.  As  some  members 
of  the  synod  of  New  York  felt  aggrieved  by  the  protest,  so 
some  of  their  members  felt  themselves  greatly  injured  by 
the  conduct  of  some  of  the  New  York  brethren,  and  unless 
mutual  concessions  were  made,  an  union  was  out  of  the 
question. ' 

As  this  year  the  synod  of  New  York  m.et  in  the  autumn, 
this  minute  came  before  them  the  same  year,  viz.  1755; 
and  they  replied  to  it  by  saying,  that  they  were  fully  sen- 
sible that  peace  and  union  were  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  the  church  of  Christ,  and  that  their  being  dissatisfied 
with  the  mere  general  proposal  to  drop  all  former  differ- 
ences, and  to  unite  on  scriptural  and  reasonable  terms,  and 
their  insisting  on  particulars,  arose  simply  from  the  desire 
to  render  the  union  effectual.  They  admitted  that  their 
demand  to  have  the  protest  annulled,  could  have  no  pro- 
priety but  on  the  assumption  that  the  synod  of  Philadelphia 
had  approved  and  adopted  it,  and  consequently  if  they 
would  say  "  that  in  their  synodical  capacity  they  do  not 
adopt  it,"  all  difficulty  would  be  removed  on  that  score. 
"  As  the  protest,"  they  add,  "  appears  to  be  a  principal 
obstruction  to  the  union  of  the  two  synods,"  they  proposed, 
that  in  case  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  admitted  it  not  to  be 
oflUcially  their  act,  the  two  synods  should  unite  on  the  terms 
previously  proposed,  and  immediately  "proceed  to  hear 
and  determine  the  differences  between  the  protesters  and 
those  protested  against,  if  needful."  ^ 

In  1756,  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  replied,  "We  desire 
to  unite  on  the  same  terms  on  which  the  ministers  of  the 

'  Minutes  of  Philadelphia  synod,  p.  52. 

2  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  pp.  91—95. 


334 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


two  synods  were  united,  when  one  body;  and  we  are  glad 
to  join  with  the  synod  of  New  York  in  any  expedient  to 
cut  off  all  debates  about  the  protestation  made  in  1741. 
We  allow  the  protesters  the  right  of  private  judgment;  and 
you  will  allow  we  can  neither  disannul  nor  withdraw  their 
protestation;  but  in  our  synodical  capacity,  at  your  desire, 
we  declare  and  do  assure  yon,  that  we  neither  adopted  nor 
do  adopt  said  protestation  as  a  term  of  ministerial  commu- 
nion. It  was  never  mentioned  to  any  of  our  members  as  a 
term  of  communion,  more  than  any  of  the  other  protesta- 
tions delivered  into  our  synod  on  occasion  of  those  diffe- 
rences. We  only  adopt  and  desire  to  adhere  to  our  stand- 
ards, as  we  agreed  formerly  when  one  body;  we  adopt  no 
other." 

The  above  declaration  respecting  the  protest  is  histori- 
cally correct.  It  was  not  a  synodical  act,  but  the  act  of 
certain  members  in  their  individual  capacity.  It  was  never 
officially  adopted  or  sanctioned  by  a  vote  of  the  synod; 
though  it  was  often  spoken  of  with  approbation. 

The  synod  appointed  their  commission  to  meet  such 
committee  as  the  synod  of  New  York  might  name,  to  pre- 
pare the  terms  of  union.  ^  This  latter  synod  accordingly, 
in  September,  1756,  appointed  a  committee  to  meet  the 
commission  of  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  in  1757. 

When  this  joint  committee  met,  "  the  commissioners  of 
the  Philadelphia  synod  declared  for  themselves,  and  doubted 
not  but  their  synod  would  also  readily  declare  that  they  do 
not  look  upon  the  protest  as  the  act  of  their  body  nor  adopt 
it  as  such."  And  as  there  was  an  agreement  on  all  other 
points  formerlj''  proposed  as  necessary  to  an  union,  it  was 
agreed  to  propose  to  their  respective  synods  to  have  their 
next  meeting  at  the  same  time  and  place.     This  proposal 

•  Minutes  of  synod  of  Philadelphia,  p.  58. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  335 

was  acceded  to  on  both  sides,  and  the  commissions  of  the 
two  synods  were  directed  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  the 
Monday  before  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
synods  in  order  "to  prepare  matters  for  their  happy  union." ^ 
The  two  synods  accordingly  met  in  Philadelphia  in  1758. 
The  commissions  reported  the  plan  of  union  which  was 
unanimously  adopted  by  each  synod,  who  agreed  to  meet 
as  one  body  at  four  o'clock,  May  29,  175S.  The  plan  of 
union  was  then  read  over  in  joint  meeting  and  unanimously 
approved,  and  is  as  follows: 

"  The  synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  taking  into 
serious  consideration  the  present  divided  state  of  the  pres- 
byterian  church  in  this  land,  and  being  deeply  sensible  that 
the  division  of  the  church  tends  to  weaken  its  interests,  to 
dishonour  religion,  and  consequently  its  glorious  author;  to 
render  government  and  discipline  ineffectual,  and,  finally, 
to  dissolve  its  very  frame;  and,  being  desirous  to  pursue 
such  measures  as  may  most  tend  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  establishment  and  edification  of  his  people,  do  judge  it 
to  be  our  indispensable  duty  to  study  the  things  that  make 
for  peace,  and  to  endeavour  the  healing  of  that  breach 
which  has  for  some  time  existed  among  us,  that  so  its  hurt- 
ful consequences  may  not  extend  to  posterity,  that  all  occa- 
sion of  reproach  upon  our  society  may  be  removed,  and 
that  we  may  carry  on  the  great  designs  of  religion  to  better 
advantage  than  we  can  do  in  a  divided  state.  And  since 
both  synods  continue  to  profess  the  same  principles  of  faith, 
and  adhere  to  the  same  form  of  worship,  government,  and 
discipline,  there  is  the  greater  reason  to  endeavour  to  com- 
promise the  differences  which  were  agitated  many  years 
ago,  with  too  great  warmth  and  animosity,  and  unite  in 
one  body. 

'  Minutes  of  synod  of  New  York,  p.  125. 


336  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

"  For  which  end,  and  that  no  jealousies  or  grounds  of 
aUenation  may  remain,  and  also  to  prevent  future  breaches 
of  like  nature,  we  agree  to  unite  in  one  body,  under  the 
name  of  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  on  the 
following  plan: 

"  1.  Both  synods  having  always  approved  and  received 
the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  as  an  orthodox  and  excellent  system  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  we  do  still 
receive  the  same  as  the  profession  of  our  faith,  and  also 
adhere  to  the  plan  of  worship,  government,  and  discipline, 
contained  in  the  Westminster  Directory,  strictly  enjoining 
it  on  all  our  members,  and  probationers  for  the  ministry, 
that  they  preach  and  teach  according  to  the  form  of  sound 
words  in  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  avoid  and 
oppose  all  errors  contrary  thereto. 

"2.  That  when  any  matter  is  determined  by  a  major 
vote,  every  member  shall  either  actively  concur  with,  or 
passively  submit  to,  such  determination;  or,  if  his  con- 
science permit  him  to  do  neither,  he  shall,  after  sufficient 
liberty  modestly  to  reason  and  remonstrate,  peaceably  with- 
draw from  our  communion,  without  attempting  to  make 
any  schism;  provided  always,  that  this  shall  be  understood 
to  extend  only  to  such  determinations  as  the  body  shall 
judge  indispensable  in  doctrine,  or  presbyterian  govern- 
ment. 

"  3.  That  any  member  or  members,  for  the  exoneration 
of  his  or  their  conscience  before  God,  have  a  right  to  pro- 
test against  any  act  or  procedure  of  our  highest  judicature, 
because  there  is  no  further  appeal  to  another  for  redress; 
and  to  require  that  such  protestation  be  recorded  in  their 
minutes.  And  as  such  a  protest  is  a  solemn  appeal  from 
the  bar  of  the  judicature,  no  member  is  liable  to  prosecu- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  337 

tion  on  account  of  his  protesting.  Provided  always,  that  it 
shall  be  considered  irregular  and  unlawful  to  enter  any 
protest  against  any  member  or  members;  to  protest  facts  or 
accusations  instead  of  proving  them,  unless  a  fair  trial  be 
refused,  even  by  the  highest  judicature.  And  it  is  agreed, 
that  such  protestations  are  only  to  be  entered  against  the 
public  acts,  judgments,  or  determinations,  of  the  judicature 
with  which  the  protester's  conscience  is  offended. 

"  4.  As  the  protestation  entered  in  the  synod  of  Phila- 
delphia, Anno  Domini,  1741,  has  been  apprehended  to 
have  been  approved  and  received  by  an  act  of  the  synod, 
and  on  that  account  was  judged  a  sufficient  obstacle  to  an 
union,  the  said  synod  declare  that  they  never  judicially 
adopted  the  said  protestation,  nor  do  account  it  a  synodical 
act;  but  that  it  is  to  be  considered  as  the  act  of  those  only 
who  subscribed  it;  and  therefore  cannot,  in  its  nature,  be  a 
valid  objection  to  the  union  of  the  two  synods,  especially 
considering  that  a  very  great  majority  of  both  synods  have 
become  members  since  the  said  protestation  was  entered. 

"  5.  That  it  shall  be  esteemed  and  treated  as  a  censura- 
ble evil  to  accuse  any  member  of  heterodoxy,  insufficiency, 
or  immorality,  in  a  calumniating  manner,  or  otherwise  than 
by  private  brotherly  admonition,  or  by  a  regular  process 
according  to  our  known  rules  of  judicial  trial  in  cases  of 
scandal.  And  it  shall  be  considered  in  the  same  view  if 
any  presbytery  appoint  supplies  within  the  bounds  of  an- 
other presbytery  without  their  concurrence;  or  if  any  mem- 
ber officiate  in  another's  congregation  without  asking  and 
obtaining  his  consent,  or  the  session's  in  case  the  minister 
be  absent.  Yet  it  shall  be  esteemed  unbrotherly  for  any 
one,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  to  refuse  his  consent  to  a 
regular  member  when  it  is  requested. 

"  6.  That  no  presbytery  shall  license  or  ordain  to  the 

29 


338  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

work  of  the  ministry  any  candidate,  until  he  give  them 
competent  satisfaction  as  to  his  learning,  and  experimental 
acquaintance  with  religion,  skill  in  divinity  and  cases  of 
conscience,  and  declare  his  acceptance  of  the  Westminster 
Confession  and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  his  faith, 
and  promise  subjection  to  the  presbyterian  plan  of  govern- 
ment in  the  Westminster  Directory. 

"  7.  The  synods  declare  it  is  their  earnest  desire  that  a 
complete  union  may  be  obtained  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
agree  that  the  united  synods  shall  model  the  several  pres- 
byteries as  shall  appear  to  them  most  expedient.  Provid- 
ed, nevertheless,  that  presbyteries  where  an  alteration  does 
not  appear  to  be  for  edification,  continue  in  their  present 
form.  As  to  divided  congregations,  it  is  agreed  that  such 
as  have  settled  ministers  on  both  sides  be  allowed  to  con- 
tinue as  they  are;  that  where  those  of  one  side  have  a  set- 
tled minister,  the  other,  being  vacant,  may  join  with  the 
settled  minister,  if  a  majority  choose  to  do  so;  that  where 
both  sides  are  vacant  they  may  be  at  liberty  to  unite  toge- 
ther. 

"8.  As  the  late  religious  appearances  occasioned  much 
speculation  and  debate,  the  members  of  the  synod  of  New 
York,  in  order  to  prevent  any  misapprehensions,  declare 
their  adherence  to  their  former  sentiments,  in  favour  of 
them,  that  a  blessed  work  of  God's  holy  Spirit  in  the  con- 
version of  numbers  was  then  carried  on;  and  for  the  satis- 
faction of  all  concerned,  this  united  synod  agree  in  declaring, 
that  as  all  mankind  are  naturally  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins,  an  entire  change  of  heart  and  life  is  necessary  to  make 
them  meet  for  the  service  and  enjoyment  of  God;  that  such 
a  change  can  be  only  effected  by  the  powerful  operations 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  that  when  sinners  are  made  sensible  of 
their  lost  condition  and  absolute  inability  to  recover  them- 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  339 

selves,  are  enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and 
convinced  of  his  ability  and  willingness  to  save ;  and,  upon 
gospel  encouragements,  do  choose  him  for  their  Saviour; 
and  renouncing  their  own  righteousness  in  point  of  merit, 
depend  upon  his  imputed  righteousness  for  justification 
before  God;  and  on  his  wisdom  and  strength  for  guidance 
and  support;  when  upon  these  apprehensions  and  exer- 
cises their  souls  are  comforted,  notwithstanding  their  past 
guilt,  and  rejoice  in  God,  through  Jesus  Christ;  when  they 
hate  and  bewail  their  sins  of  heart  and  life,  delight  in  the 
laws  of  God  without  exception,  reverently  and  diligently 
attend  his  ordinances,  become  humble  and  self-denied,  and 
make  it  the  business  of  their  life  to  please  and  glorify  God 
and  to  do  good  to  their  fellow-men — this  is  to  be  acknow- 
ledged as  a  gracious  work  of  God,  even  though  it  should 
be  attended  with  unusual  bodily  commotions,  or  some  more 
exceptionable  circumstances,  by  means  of  infirmity,  temp- 
tations, or  remaining  corruptions.  And  wherever  religious 
appearances  are  attended  with  the  good  effects  above 
mentioned,  we  desire  to  rejoice  in  and  to  thank  God  for 
them. 

"  But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  persons  seeming  to  be 
under  a  religious  concern,  imagine  that  they  have  visions 
of  the  human  nature  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  hear  voices,  or  see 
external  lights,  or  have  faintings  and  convulsion-like  fits, 
and  on  the  account  of  these,  judge  themselves  to  be  truly 
converted,  though  they  have  not  the  scriptural  characters 
of  a  work  of  God  above  described,  we  believe  such  persons 
to  be  under  a  dangerous  delusion;  and  we  testify  our  utter 
disapprobation  of  such  a  delusion,  wherever  it  attends  any 
religious  appearances  in  any  church  or  time. 

"Now  as  both  synods  are  agreed  in  their  sentiments 
concerning  the   nature  of  a  work  of  grace,   and  declare 


340  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

their  desire  and  purpose  to  promote  it,  different  judgments 
respecting  particular  matters  of  facts  ought  not  to  prevent 
their  union;  especially  as  many  of  the  present  members 
have  entered  into  the  ministry,  since  the  time  of  the  afore- 
said religious  appearances. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  as  the  design  of  our  union  is  the 
advancement  of  the  Mediator's  kingdom,  and  as  the  wise 
and  faithful  discharge  of  the  ministerial  functions  is  the 
principal  appointed  means  for  that  glorious  end;  we  judge 
that  this  is  a  proper  occasion  to  manifest  our  sincere  inten- 
tion unitedly  to  exert  ourselves  to  fulfil  the  ministry  we 
have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Accordingly  we  unani- 
mously declare  our  serious  and  fixed  resolution,  by  divine 
aid,  to  take  heed  to  ourselves  that  our  hearts  be  upright, 
our  discourse  edifying,  and  our  lives  exemplary  for  purity 
and  godliness;  to  take  heed  to  our  doctrine  that  it  be  not 
only  orthodox,  but  evangelical  and  spiritual,  tending  tp 
awaken  the  secure  to  a  suitable  concern  for  their  salvation, 
and  to  instruct  and  encourage  sincere  Christians;  thus  com- 
mending ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight 
of  God;  to  cultivate  peace  and  harmony  among  ourselves, 
and  to  strengthen  each  other's  hands  in  promoting  the 
knowledge  of  divine  truth,  and  in  diffusing  the  savour  of 
piety  among  our  people. 

"  Finally,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  under  our 
care,  that  instead  of  indulging  a  contentious  disposition, 
they  would  love  each  other  with  a  pure  heart  fervently,  as 
brethren  who  profess  subjection  to  the  same  Lord,  adhere 
to  the  same  faith,  worship,  and  government,  and  entertain 
the  same  hope  of  glory.  And  we  desire  that  they  would 
improve  the  present  union  for  their  mutual  edification, 
combine  to  strengthen  the  common  interests  of  religion,  and 
go  hand  in  hand  in  the  path  of  life;  which  we  pray  the 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  341 

God  of  all  grace  would  please  to  effect,  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen." 

This  noble  declaration  is  for  our  church,  what  the  decla- 
ration of  independence  is  for  our  country.  It  is  a  promul- 
gation of  first  principles  ;  a  setting  forth  of  our  faith,  order, 
and  religion,  as  an  answer  to  those  who  question  us.  It  is 
the  foundation  of  our  ecclesiastical  compact,  the  bond  of 
our  union.  Those  who  adhere  to  the  principles  here  laid 
down,  are  entitled  to  a  standing  in  our  church;  those  who 
desert  them,  desert  not  merely  the  faith  but  the  religion  of 
our  fathers,  and  have  no  right  to  their  name  or  their  heri- 
tage. It  is  with  grateful  exultation  we  read  that  this  de- 
claration was  unanimously  adopted,  that  every  member  of 
the  united  synod  set  his  hand  to  this  testimony  in  behalf  of 
truth,  order,  and  evangelical  religion.  If  our  church  will 
faithfully  bear  up  this  standard,  then  shall  she  look  forth  as 
the  morning;  then  shall  she  arise  and  shine,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  shall  be  seen  upon  her. 


29' 


342 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SYNOD    OF    NEW    YORK    AND    PHILADELPHIA. 

1758-88. 

Preliminary  statements. — General  review  of  the  acts  of  the  synod. — I.  Its 
missionary  operations. — II.  Its  efforts  in  behalf  of  education. — III.  Its 
standard  of  doctrine. — IV.  Its  discipline. — Its  exercise  of  ordinary  powers 
in  the  formation  of  new  presbyteries ;  in  establishing  general  rules  and 
deciding  questions  of  conscience ;  in  the  general  supervision  of  the  church ; 
in  the  decision  of  appeals  and  references. — V.  Its  exercise  of  extraordinary 
powers,  in  acting  by  a  commission;  in  the  exercise  of  presby  terial  powers; 
in  investing  committees  with  synodical  authority. — VI.  The  synod's  inter- 
course with  other  churches. — VII.  Its  conduct  in  reference  to  the  revo- 
lutionary war. — VIII.  Formation  of  the  new  constitution, — IX.  State  of 
the  church  during  the  existence  of  this  synod. 

The  number  of  ministers  in  connexion  with  our  church 
at  the  time  of  the  union  of  the  two  synods,  was  not  far 
from  one  hundred.  Among  these  were  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  who  have  ever  adorned  our  annals. 
The  two  Tennents,  Richard  Treat,  Francis  AHson,  Alex- 
ander McDowell,  John  Pierson,  David  Bostwick,  Samuel 
Davies,  Samuel  Finley,  John  Roan,  Matthew  Wilson,  John 
Miller,  John  Blair,  Elihu  Spencer,  George  Duffield,  Robert 
Smith,  John  Rodgers,  and  others  equally  prominent,  either 
for  learning  or  piety,  were  then  in  the  vigour  of  their  days. 
To  these  were  added  in  succeeding  years,  men  no  less  dis- 
tinguished for  talents  or  usefulness.  In  1759,  Mr.  John 
Ewing  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  synod.  This  gentle- 
man was  pastor  of  the  first  presbyterian  church  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  provost  of  the  university  of  Pennsylvania. 
"  In  all  the  branches  of  science  usually  taught  in  seminaries 


PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,   ETC.  343 

of  learning,  more  particularly  in  mathematics,  astronomy, 
and  every  branch  of  natural  philosophy;  in  the  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages,  and  in  logic,  metaphysics, 
and  moral  philosophy,  he  was  probably  one  of  the  most 
accurate  and  profound  scholars  which  this  country  can 
boast  of  having  reared."^  In  1760,  we  find  the  names  of 
James  Latta,  Alexander  McWhorter,  and  William  Kirk- 
patrick.  The  first  mentioned  is  the  ancestor  of  the  family 
which  has  furnished  so  many  ministers  to  our  church.  The 
second  was  long  the  excellent  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Newark,  New  Jersey;  and  the  third,  a  member  of  the 
presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  was  distinguished  for  his 
piety  and  usefulness.  In  1761,  John  Strain  became  a 
member  of  the  synod,  and  is  still  remembered  as  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  impressive  ministers  our  church  has  ever 
produced.  In  1763,  we  find  the  name  of  James  Waddell, 
who  was  to  the  Virginia  church  in  point  of  eloquence,  what 
Patrick  Henry  Avas  to  the  Virginia  bar.  In  1765,  the  pres- 
bytery of  Hanover  reported  the  ordination  of  David  Rice, 
a  man  of  distinguished  usefulness  in  the  southern  church. 
In  1766,  the  names  of  Robert  Cooper  and  Samuel  Blair 
were  reported.  The  former  was  a  prominent  and  pious 
member  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  and  the  latter,  a  son 
of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair  so  distinguished  for  his  piety  and 
usefulness  at  an  earlier  period  of  our  history,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight  or  thirty  years,  he  was  elected  president  of 
Princeton  College,  though  he  declined  the  appointment,  and 
soon  sank  into  a  state  of  health  which  made  the  residue  of 
his  life  a  protracted  disease.^  In  1769,  John  McCreary 
and  Joseph  Smith  were  added  to  the  roll.     Both  of  these 

'  Dr.  Miller's  Retrospect,  vol.  ii.  p.  372. 

^  Dr.  Green's  Sermons  and  History  of  New  Jersey  College,  p.  396. 


344  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

were  distinguished  men.  The  latter,  preeminent  for  piety 
and  energy,  was  one  of  the  fathers  of  our  church  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  The  same  year  the  Rev.  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
who  had  already  obtained  in  Scotland,  a  high  reputation 
as  the  able  advocate  of  evangelical  doctrine,  was  received 
as  a  member  of  the  synod,  and  entered  upon  that  course  of 
active  usefulness  in  the  service  of  his  adopted  church  and 
country,  which  has  rendered  his  name  so  conspicuous  in 
our  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history.  The  same  year  Dr. 
Sproat  was  received  from  the  Association  of  New  Haven 
county,  Connecticut,  having  been  called  to  take  charge  of 
the  second  presbyterian  church  in  Philadelphia.  In  1771, 
the  name  of  John  Woodhull,  so  long  the  faithful  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Freehold,  New  Jersey,  first  occurs  on  the 
records.  This  enumeration  would  become  tedious  if  further 
continued.  It  may,  therefore,  be  briefly  stated,  that  the 
names  of  Robert  Davidson  in  1774,  of  James  Power  and 
John  McMillan,  apostles  of  the  west,  and  of  John  McKnight 
in  1777,  of  Thaddeus  Dodd  and  James  Armstrong  in  1778, 
of  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  in  1779,  of  James  Hall  in  1782, 
of  Moses  Hoge  in  1786,  occur  for  the  first  time  on  the 
minutes.  ^  To  the  preceding  list  there  are  doubtless  many 
names  which  ought  to  be  added,  whose  omission  is  to  be 
attributed  to  the  writer's  limited  means  of  information.  In 
1787,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nesbit,  the  learned  president  of  Dick- 
inson college,  was  received  as  a  member  of  synod;  and  in 
the  same  year  the  venerable  Dr.  Green  first  took  his  seat  in 
our  highest  judicatory,  in  whose  counsels  for  a  long  succes- 

'  Several  of  these  ministers  were,  no  doubt,  ordained  some  years  before 
their  names  appear  upon  the  records  of  the  synod.  During  the  war  the 
attendance  of  the  members,  and  even  the  reports  of  the  distant  presbyteries 
were  greatly  interrupted. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  345 

sion  of  years  he  has  been  so  eminently  influential.  The 
whole  number  of  accessions  to  the  synod  during  this  period 
of  thirty  years,  was  considerably  more  than  two  hundred. 
The  deaths  and  removals  reported  to  the  synod  were  about 
one  hundred;  in  many  cases,  however,  the  decease  of 
members  is  not  recorded  in  the  synodical  minutes. 

The  synod  was  soon  called  to  weep  over  the  graves  of 
some  of  its  most  distinguished  members.  In  1760,  the 
death  of  "  that  pious,  zealous  saint  of  God,"  ^  the  Rev. 
George  Gillespie,  is  recorded.  He  died  at  an  advanced 
age,  having  been  received  by  the  presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia, as  a  licentiate  of  the  presbytery  of  Glasgow,  in  1712. 
In  1761,  the  synod  heard  of  the  decease  of  the  eloquent, 
devoted,  and  accomplished  Davies,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
six.  "Heu  quam  exiguum  vitae  curriculum!  Corpore  fuit 
eximio;  gestu  liberali,  placido,  augusto.  Ingenii  nitore,  mo- 
rum  integritate,  munificentia,  facilitate  inter  paucos  illustris. 
Rei  literariae  peritus;  theologus  promptus,  perspicax.  In 
rostris,  per  eloquium  blandum,  mellitum,  vehemens  simul, 
et  perstringens,  nulli  secundus.  Scriptor  ornatus,  sublimis, 
disertus.  Praesertim  vero  pietate,  ardente  in  Deum  zelo  et 
religione  spectandus."^  In  1766,  Davies  was  followed  to 
the  grave  by  Dr.  Samuel  Finley,  his  scarcely  less  distin- 
guished successor  in  the  presidency  of  Princeton  College. 
The  preceding  year  the  synod  were  informed  that  the  Rev. 
Gilbert  Tennent  had  closed  his  long,  laborious,  and  emi- 
nently successful  ministry.  In  1768,  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Adam  Boyd  was  reported.  He  was  ordained  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  Newcastle,  in  1724,  and  was  an  indefatigable 

•  This  language  is  used  in  reference  to  Mr.  Gillespie  by  Dr.  Francis  Alison, 
in  his  sermon  delivered  before  the  synod  in  1758. 
2  The  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  Davies. 


346  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

and  faithful  pastor  of  the  church  of  Octarara,  and  of  two 
neighbouring  congregations.  ^  From  this  time  the  older 
members  of  the  synod  disappear  in  rapid  succession.  In 
1771,  there  were  seven  deaths  reported,  including  that  of 
the  excellent  Mr.  Pierson-,  in  1772,  four,  including  that  of 
Mr.  John  Blair;  in  1776,  Mr.  John  Roan;  in  1777,  Mr. 
William  Tennent;  in  1779,  Dr.  Richard  Treat,  of  Abing- 
ton;  in  1780,  Dr.  Francis  Alison:  so  that  but  few  of  the  ori- 
ginal members  of  this  synod  were  now  remaining. 

The  following  history  of  this  synod,  from  the  design  of 
this  work,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  materials  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  writer,  must  be  in  a  great  measure  purely  eccle- 
siastical. That  is,  it  must  be  in  a  good  degree  confined  to 
a  classification  of  the  acts  of  the  synod,  with  a  view  to 
exhibit  its  character  as  an  ecclesiastical  body.  Such  a  clas- 
sification, though  it  may  not  be  without  its  use,  cannot  be 
expected  to  possess  the  interest  which  belongs  to  the  his- 
tory of  revivals,  or  of  polemical  discussions. 

'  In  the  minutes  of  the  presbyterj  of  Newcastle  it  is  stated,  that  Mr. 
Thomas  Creaghead,  and  Mr.  Adam  Boyd,  "  late  from  New  England,"  were 
received  by  the  presbytery.  This  led  the  writer  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Boyd 
was  probably  of  New  England  origin.  He  has  learned,  however,  from  one 
of  his  descendants,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd  Cross,  of  Baltimore,  that  he  was  from 
the  county  of  Antrim,  in  Ireland,  and  the  son-in-law  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Creaghead,  who  was  originally  from  Scotland.  Mr.  Creeghead  was  educated 
as  a  physician,  but  subsequently  studied  divinity  and  went  to  Ireland,  whence 
he  removed  with  his  family  to  this  country.  "He  collected,  organized,  and 
built  up  seven  of  the  presbyterian  churches  of  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylva- 
nia, besides  securing  the  building  of  their  houses  of  worship.  He  used, 
whenever  a  new  preacher  from  Ireland  or  Scotland  came  over  through  his 
influence,  or  one  who  seemed  qualified  for  his  work,  to  give  him  the  congre- 
gation which  he  had  collected,  and  go  to  some  other  part  and  collect  another." 
Two  of  his  sons  became  ministers,  one  of  whom  was  settled  near  White  Clay 
Creek,  in  Delaware,  and  the  other  in  Lancaster  county.  The  Rev.  Matthew 
Wilson,  father  of  the  late  Dr.  J.  P.  Wilson,  married  his  grand-daughter. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  347 


MISSIONARY    OPERATIONS    OF    THE    SYNOD. 

With  a  field  so  extensive  as  that  embraced  within  the 
bounds  of  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and 
which  was  rapidly  filling  up  with  inhabitants,  the  burden 
of  missionary  labour  which  devolved  upon  that  body  was 
very  heavy.  In  1759,  Messrs.  Kirkpatrick,  McWhorter, 
Latta,  and  Lewis,  were  sent  to  Virginia,  to  act  under  the 
direction  of  the  presbytery  of  Hanover.  ^  Mr.  John  Brain- 
erd,  then  the  pastor  of  the  church  of  Newark,  applied  to 
the  synod  for  advice,  whether  he  should  leave  his  pastoral 
charge  and  devote  himself  anew  to  the  service  of  the  In- 
dians. The  synod  unanimously  advised  him  to  remove, 
and  promised  him  the  interest  of  the  Indian  fund  in  the 
hands  of  the  trustees  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  which 
was  at  the  disposal  of  the  synod.  Messrs.  McKnight,  Beat- 
ty,  and  Latta,  also  were  directed  to  visit  the  Indians  in  the 
course  of  the  summer.  In  1760,  Messrs.  Duffield  and  Mills 
were  sent  to  Virginia;  and  a  general  collection  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Indian  mission  was  ordered  to  be  taken  up. 
With  the  view  of  explaining  the  necessity  for  this  collec- 
tion, the  synod  state  that  in  consequence  of  the  application 
of  certain  pious  ministers,  the  society  in  Scotland  for  propa- 
gating Christian  knowledge  had  made  an  annual  grant, 
which  was  appropriated,  first  to  David  Brainerd,  and  after- 
wards to  his  brother  John;  who  had  continued  to  labour 
among  the  Indians  for  seven  or  eight  years.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  war  he  had  relinquished  his  mission  and  set- 
tled in  Newark;  but  when  the  province  of  New  Jersey, 
having  reserved  four  thousand  acres  of  land  for  the  Indians, 
requested  him,  by  its  governor,  to  resume  his  mission,  he 

•  Minutes  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  p.  18. 


348  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

had  upon  the  advice  of  the  synod,  given  up  his  comfortable 
settlement  and  recommenced  his  missionary  labours.  His 
support,  and  that  of  the  Indian  school,  therefore,  now  rested 
on  the  synod,  who  called  on  all  the  churches  to  make  a 
collection  and  to  send  the  proceeds  to  Mr.  Jonathan  Ser- 
geant, near  Princeton.  President  Davies  was  also  directed 
to  write  to  the  society  in  Scotland,  and  request  them  to 
renew  their  grant.  ^ 

In  1761,  an  overture  was  made  by  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  to 
send  a  missionary  to  the  Oneida  Indians,  the  importance  of 
which  the  synod  acknowledged,  but  as  no  one  could  then 
be  found  to  undertake  the  service,  and  as  the  necessary 
funds  were  not  at  command,  the  overture  was  declined. 
The  synod  renewed  their  promises  to  support  Mr.  Brainerd, 
and  ordered  a  new  collection  for  that  purpose.  Numerous 
applications  were,  the  same  year,  presented  for  missionaries 
to  North  Carolina.  ^ 

In  1762,  a  new  order  was  made  respecting  the  Indian 
mission;  the  money  to  be  paid  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ewing,  in 
Philadelphia,  or  to  Mr.  Jonathan  Sergeant,  Princeton.  ^ 
Messrs.  Enoch  Green  and  William  Tennent,  jiin'r.  were 
directed  to  serve  each  six  months  under  the  direction  of  the 
presbytery  of  Hanover.  ^ 

In  1763,  a  new  general  collection  was  ordered  for  the 
Indian  mission,  and  thirty  pounds  appropriated  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  school  m.aster.  Mr.  Occam,  the  missionary 
among  the  Oneida  Indians,  in  the  service  of  the  British 
society,  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the  synod,  and  sixty- 
five  pounds  appropriated  to  his  use.  ^  The  same  year  a 
request  was  presented  from  the  corporation  of  the  Widows' 
Fund,  that  some  missionaries  might  be  sent  to  the  frontier 

1  Minutes,  p.  29.  2  Ibid.  p.  50  and  52,  »  Ibid.  p.  62. 

4  Ibid,  p  71.  5  Ibid.  p.  80. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  349 

settlements,  to  ascertain  where  new  congregations  were 
forming,  and  what  could  be  done  to  promote  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  among  them,  and  the  neighbouring  Indians. 
The  board,  which  held  in  trust  a  fund  received  from  the 
general  assembly  in  Scotland,  for  propagating  the  gospel  in 
this  country,  offered  to  pay  the  necessary  expenses  of  the 
proposed  mission.  In  consequence  of  this  application  the 
synod  appointed  Messrs.  Beatty  and  Brainerd  to  go  to 
the  west,  and  to  report  to  the  board  the  result  of  their 
researches.  ^  Mr.  Green  was  appointed  to  act  as  a  mis- 
sionary within  the  bounds  of  the  presbyteries  of  Lewes 
and  Newcastle,  and  Mr.  William  Tennent  and  Jacob  Ker 
within  those  of  Hanover.  ^  A  committee  was  also  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  the  corporation  of  the  Widows' 
Fund  with  regard  to  a  plan  for  missionary  operations.  ^ 

It  appears  from  the  minutes  for  1764,  that  the  mission  of 
Messrs.  Beatty  and  Brainerd  to  the  frontiers,  was  frustrated 
by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  war.  "*  A  new  collection 
was  ordered  for  the  support  of  Mr.  Brainerd,  and  the 
interest  of  the  fund  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  of  New 
Jersey  college  was  appropriated  to  his  use.  ^  The  same 
year  the  synod,  considering  the  state  of  many  congrega- 
tions in  the  south,  particularly  in  North  Carolina,  and  the 
great  importance  of  having  those  congregations  properly 
organized,  appointed  the  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer,  and  Alexan- 
der McWhorter,  as  their  missionaries  for  that  purpose;  that 
they  might  form  societies,  help  them  to  adjust  their  bounds, 
ordain  elders,  administer  sealing  ordinances,  instruct  the 
people  in  discipline,  and  finally  direct  them  in  their  conduct, 
particularly  in  what  manner  they  should  proceed  to  obtain 
the  stated  ministry.     They  were  further  directed  to  assure 

1  Minutes,  p.  83.  2  Ibid.  p.  88.  3  Ibid.  p.  94. 

"  Ibid.  p.  101.  5  Ibid.  p.  103. 

30 


350  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  people  that  the  synod  had  their  interests  much  at  heart, 
and  would  send  them  candidates  and  supplies  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power.  ^  This  was  just  such  a  mission  as  that  on 
which  Timothy  and  Titus  were  sent,  that  they  might  "set 
in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting,  and  ordain  elders  in 
every  city."  It  would  have  been  perfectly  consistent  with 
our  system  had  Messrs.  Spencer  and  McWhorter  been  au- 
thorized to  ordain  preaching,  as  well  as  ruling  presbyters, 
had  there  been  any  probability  of  finding  suitable  candi- 
dates for  the  sacred  office. 

In  1765,  Messrs.  Nathan  Ker,  George  Duffield,  William 
Ramsay,  David  Caldwell,  James  Latta,  and  Robert  McMur- 
die,  were  appointed  to  labour  each  six  months  in  North 
Carolina.  ^  A  collection  was  again  ordered  for  the  Indian 
mission.  ^ 

In  1766,  it  was  ordered  that  every  member  of  the  synod 
should  take  subscriptions,  or  make  collections,  in  his  con- 
gregation, and  in  the  neighbouring  vacancies,  to  raise  a 
fund  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  destitute.  ^ 
It  was  also  resolved  to  sustain  the  school  under  Mr.  Brain- 
erd.  The  synod  appointed  Messrs.  Lewis,  Caldwell,  Ches- 
nut,  and  Bay,  to  perform  missionary  duty  at  the  south,  and 
authorized  Mr.  C.  T.  Smith,  to  itinerate  in  the  same  quar- 
ter. ^  Messrs.  Beatty  and  Duffield  were  appointed  mis- 
sionaries to  the  frontiers,  and  directed  to  report  to  the  cor- 
poration of  the  Widows'  Fund.  *^ 

In  1767,  a  report  was  made  of  the  result  of  the  collec- 
tions of  the  preceding  year,  for  sending  the  gospel  to  the 
poor,  when  it  was  found  that  only  £112  had  been  received. 
The  synod  expressed  their  great  sorrow  that  so  many  of 
their  members  had  paid  so  little  regard  to  the  authority  of 

»  Minutes,  p.  108.  2  Ibid.  p.  120.  3  Ibid.  p.  127. 

*  Ibid.  p.  146.  5  Ibid.  p.  147.  e  Jbid.  p.  148. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  351 

synod,  enjoining  a  liberality  for  so  pious  and  important  a 
purpose.  The  presbytery  of  New  York  brought  in  an 
overture  on  the  subject  of  missions,  which  was  amended 
and  adopted.  This  overture  provided  that  there  should  be 
an  annual  collection  taken  up  in  every  congregation;  that 
every  presbytery  should  appoint  a  treasurer  to  receive  and 
transmit  the  monies  thus  obtained;  that  the  synod  should 
appoint  a  general  treasurer  to  whom  all  these  presbyterial 
collections  should  be  sent;  and  that  every  year  a  full  account 
of  all  receipts  and  disbursements  should  be  printed  and  sent 
down  among  the  churches.  Mr.  Richard  Treat  was  ap- 
pointed the  synodical  treasurer  under  this  plan.  Thirty 
pounds  were  appropriated  to  the  support  of  Mr.  Brainerd's 
school,  and  twenty  as  an  addition  to  his  salary.  ^  A  com- 
mittee appointed  to  confer  with  the  corporation  of  the 
Widows'  Fund,  reported,  "  that,  agreeably  to  an  act  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  passed  in  the 

year ,  the  money  raised  by  collections  in  the  several 

congregations  of  that  church  shall  be  disposed  of  by  the 
charitable  corporation,  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  of 
the  united  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  for  the 
support  and  relief  of  such  ministers  as  are,  or  shall  here- 
after be  called  to  preach  the  everlasting  gospel  among  the 
benighted  Indians,  or  to  such  congregations  as  cannot 
afford  them  maintenance."  The  committee  added,  they 
had  not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  sum  which  was  at  the 
joint  disposal  of  the  corporation  and  the  synod;  another 
committee  was,  therefore,  appointed  to  ascertain  the  sum, 
and  to  assist  in  its  appropriation.  ^  A  petition  was  present- 
ed from  eight  congregations  in  North  Carolina,  that  Mr. 
Spencer,  Lewis,  McWhorter,  or  James  Caldwell,  might  be 
sent  to  settle  among  them,  offering  to  contribute  a  hundred 

'  Minutes,  p.  163,  5.  2  Ibid.  p.  167. 


352  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

and  sixty  pounds  to  the  support  of  either  of  them.  These 
gentlemen,  however,  all  declined  the  invitation.  Petitions 
for  supplies  were  at  the  same  time  received  from  twenty- 
one  places  in  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia.  ^  The  synod  appointed  Messrs.  Bay,  Potter, 
Alexander,  McCreary,  James  Latta,  jun'r,  Anderson,  and 
Jackson,  to  visit  those  congregations,  and  spend  at  least  six 
months  each  in  their  service.  Messrs.  Beatty  and  Duffield 
reported  that  they  visited  the  frontiers,  agreeably  to  the 
directions  of  the  last  synod,  and  found  a  great  number  of 
people  exceedingly  desirous  of  being  formed  into  congrega- 
tions, and  ready  to  do  all  that  they  could  to  support  the 
gospel,  though  they  were  in  very  distressing  circumstances, 
in  consequence  of  the  calamities  of  the  late  war.  They 
also  visited  the  Indians  upon  the  Muskingum,  a  hundred 
and  thirty  miles  beyond  Fort  Pitt,  whom  they  found  anxi- 
ous to  receive  religious  instruction.  The  synod  appointed 
Messrs.  Brainerd  and  Cooper  to  visit  the  frontiers,  and  to 
spend  three  months  among  the  Indians  above-mentioned.  ^ 
The  same  year  Dr.  Rodgers  was  sent  on  a  mission  of  six 
weeks  to  Albany  and  the  neighbouring  places. 

In  1768,  Messrs.  Brainerd  and  Cooper  reported,  that  in 
consequence  of  the  discouraging  accounts  brought  by  the 
Indian  interpreter,  they  had  not  performed  the  mission 
assigned  them  by  the  last  synod.  The  usual  appropria- 
tions were  made  for  Mr.  Brainerd's  mission;  a  committee 
consisting  of  Dr.  Alison,  Messrs.  Reed,  Treat,  Ewing,  W. 
Tennent,  Rodgers,  Brainerd,  McWhorter,  Caldwell,  Dr. 
Williamson,  Charles  Thompson,  and  the  moderator,  John 
Blair,  was  appointed  to  meet  at  Elizabethtown,  to  prepare 
a  general  plan  for  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  In- 
dians. ^     The  committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  cor- 

«  Minutes,  p.  171.  2  ibid.  p.  173.  3  Ibid  p.  179. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  353 

poration  of  the  Widows'  Fund,  respecting  the  money  in  their 
hands  received  from  Scotland,  and  subject  to  the  disposition 
of  the  synod,  reported  that  they  proposed  several  questions 
to  the  board  and  had  received  the  following  answer.  "  That 
it  is  the  sense  of  this  board,  that  though  a  corporate  body 
may  not,  in  the  management  of  its  affairs,  legally  associate 
with  others  not  in  membership,  yet  in  regard  to  the  limita- 
tion of  the  general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  we 
judge  it  our  duty  to  consult  with  the  committee,  and  mutu- 
ally to  propose  and  agree  with  one  another  in  the  uses  to 
which  the  money  is  to  be  applied;  provided  always,  that  if 
the  synod  do  not  appoint  a  committee,  or  if  that  committee 
do  not  attend  upon  the  corporation,  it  shall  not  be  hindered 
to  proceed  to  business;"  and  "that  the  interest  of  seven 
hundred  pounds  sterling  is  to  be  disposed  of  yearly  for  the 
time  to  come,  if  there  be  occasion  for  it,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  synod."  ^  These  answers  were  not 
deemed  satisfactory,  as  they  did  not  state  what  sum  had 
been  received  from  the  general  assembly,  nor  what  use  the 
board  had  made  of  it  since  it  came  into  their  hands.  Objec- 
tion was  also  taken  to  the  claim  of  the  board  of  a  right  to 
dispose  of  the  money  without  the  concurrence  of  the  synod, 
in  case  of  a  failure  in  the  appointment  of  a  committee. 
The  synod,  therefore,  appointed  another  committee  to 
endeavour  to  get  this  matter  cleared  up.  Renewed  suppli- 
cations for  supplies  were  presented  from  the  frontiers  of 
Pennsylvania,  from  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina; 
and  the  synod  appointed  Messrs.  Bay,  Tate,  Anderson, 
Jackson,  and  McCreary,  for  missionary  service  in  these 
several  places.  ^ 

In  1769,  the  usual  appropriations  Avere  made  for  Mr. 
Brainerd.     Messrs.    John   Harris,  John    Clark,  Jeremiah 
1  Minutes,  p.  181.  2  ibid.  pp.  186.  188. 


354  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Halsey,  James  Latta,  John  Elmore,  Thomas  Lewis,  Heze- 
kiah  James  Balch,  and  James  Anderson,  were  appointed 
as  missionaries  to  the  south.  Dr.  Alison,  Messrs.  Treat, 
Ewing,  and  Sproat,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  exa- 
mine the  credentials  and  to  grant  certificates  to  any  Hcen- 
tiates  or  ministers  from  New  England,  who  might  offer 
themselves  as  missionaries  to  the  soutliern  provinces.  The 
synod  engaged  to  pay  their  missionaries  at  the  rate  of 
thirty  shillings  for  every  sabbath  they  preached.  The 
presbytery  of  New  York  was  directed  to  supply  the  poor 
vacancies  on  the  frontiers  of  New  Jersey  and  New  York 
ten  sabbaths;  and  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  those  in  Penn- 
sylvania ten  sabbaths.  ^ 

In  1770,  numerous  applications  for  supplies  were  pre- 
sented from  Virginia  and  Carolina,  and  Messrs.  Lewis,  Roe, 
Close,  and  McCreary,  were  appointed  to  labour  in  those 
provinces.  Mr.  Patrick  Alison  was  sent  to  Virginia,  and 
Mr.  Nathan  Niles,  a  licentiate  from  Massachusetts,  was 
directed  to  labour  during  the  summer  on  the  western  fron- 
tiers of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  to 
spend  the  winter  in  Carolina.  The  synod  agreed  to  grant 
the  presbyteries  of  New  York  and  Donegal  each  fifteen 
pounds  towards  the  payment  of  supplies  for  the  frontiers.  ^ 

In  1771,  the  usual  appropriations  were  made  for  the  sup- 
port of  Mr.  Brainerd's  mission.  Messrs.  James  Finley,  Sam- 
son Smith,  Schenck,  Alexander  Miller,  Eliphalet  Ball,  Elam 
Potter,  Joseph  Potter,  and  John  McCreary,  were  appointed 
as  missionaries  to  the  south  and  west.  Fifteen  pounds 
were  again  appropriated  to  each  of  the  presbyteries  of  New 
York  and  Donegal  for  supplies.  The  committee  of  confe- 
rence with  the  corporation  of  the  widows'  fund,  reported 
that  they  had  made  a  settlement  with  the  board,  which  the 

«  Minutes,  pp.  204,  205  2  Ibid.  pp.  213.  215.  226. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  355 

synod  subsequently  sanctioned.  The  corporation  agreed  to 
pay  the  synod  annually  thirty  pounds,  to  be  appropriated 
to  the  aid  of  poor  ministers,  or  to  the  erection  of  churches, 
or  the  payment  of  missionaries  within  the  provinces  of 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Maryland.  In  considera- 
tion of  this  annual  sum  the  synod  agreed  to  acquiesce  in 
and  approve  of  such  application  of  the  money  entrusted  by 
the  Scotch  church  for  the  use  of  the  widows'  fund,  and  all 
such  other  pious  uses  as  have  hitherto  been  made  of  it  by 
the  corporation.  The  synod  agreed  never  to  break  in  upon 
the  capital  whence  the  said  thirty  pounds  were  to  arise  by 
way  of  interest;  but  if  found  necessary,  the  board  were  to 
have  the  right  to  use  the  capital  in  whole  or  in  part.  This, 
however,  was  not  to  be  done  unless  the  annuities  due  from 
the  corporation  could  not  otherwise  be  paid.  The  synod 
was  to  receive  the  interest  of  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
fund  at  the  rate  of  five  per  centum,  should  the  corporation  at 
any  time  find  it  necessary  to  use  a  part  of  the  capital.  It 
was  finally  agreed,  that  this  arrangement  should  put  an  end 
to  all  debates  between  the  synod  and  the  board  in  reference 
to  this  matter.  ^  It  does  not  appear  that  the  synod  ever 
succeeded  in  finding  out  the  sum  originally  received  from 
Scotland;  or  the  uses  to  which  it  had  hitherto  been  applied. 
In  this  minute  the  board  say  they  considered  the  fund  as 
equal  to  six  hundred  pounds,  which,  as  nothing  is  said  to 
the  contrary,  probably  means  pounds  currency,  whereas 
three  years  before  the  sum  was  seven  hundred  pounds 
sterling.  It  is  evident  the  corporation  considered  them- 
selves as  having  the  legal  disposal  of  the  money,  and  as  the 
synod  acquiesced  in  their  measures,  it  is  to  be  presumed 
that  this  was  acknowledged  on  their  part.  The  funds  of 
the  corporation  were  so  much  injured  by  the  depreciation 

1  Minutes,  p.  147. 


356  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  money  during  the  revolutionary  war,  that  in  17S2,  the 
synod  agreed  to  remit  this  fund  to  them  to  be  applied  to  the 
ends  of  their  institution.  ^ 

In  1772,  a  new  general  collection  was  ordered;  and  it 
was  directed  that  the  monies  thus  raised  should  be  appro- 
priated for  the  support  of  missionaries,  the  purchase  and 
distribution  of  useful  books,  and  the  promotion  of  the  gospel 
among  the  Indians.  A  committee  v/as  appointed  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  to  procure  books  and  distribute 
them  to  the  several  presbyteries.  The  books  to  be  pur- 
chased were  Bibles,  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Vin- 
cent's Catechism,  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion, 
Alleine's  Alarm,  A  compassionate  Address  to  the  Christiaa 
world.  Watts'  Divine  Songs,  and  the  Assembly's  Catechism. 
A  pastoral  letter  was  addressed  to  the  churches  urging  the 
importance  of  the  ends  to  be  answered  by  the  proposed 
collection  upon  their  attention.  Missionary  appointments 
were,  as  usual,  made  for  the  south  and  west.  ^ 

In  1773,  it  was  reported  that  Mr.  Brainerd's  school  was 
discontinued  the  preceding  year  for  want  of  a  teacher;  and 
forty-three  pounds  were  appropriated  towards  his  support. 
Twenty  pounds  were  assigned  to  each  of  the  committees  in 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  for  the  purchase  of  books;  and 
the  presbytery  of  New  York  were  allowed  to  appropriate 
fifty  pounds  of  the  money  collected  within  their  bounds 
towards  rebuilding  the  presbyterian  church  in  the  Island  of 
Saba.  The  presbytery  of  Newcastle  were  appointed  to 
send  certain  missionaries  to  the  south,  whose  credentials 
were  to  be  signed  by  the  moderator  of  the  synod.  ^ 

In  1774,  the  usual  appropriations  were  made  for  Mr. 
Brainerd.  Dr.  Rodgers,  Mr.  McWhorter,  and  Mr.  Cald- 
well, were  appointed  to  visit  the  northern  part  of  New 

I  Minutes,  p.  383.        2  ibid.  pp.  255.  257.  261.        3  ibid,  pp,  277. 288. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  357 

York  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  and  organizing  congre- 
gations. Urgent  applications  for  supplies  were  received 
from  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina.  A  re- 
presentation was  also  presented  to  the  synod  from  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  respecting  a 
mission  to  Africa,  ^  which  brought  up  the  subject  of  slavery. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  overture  on  these 
subjects  and  report  to  the  synod.  The  first  part  of  the 
report  of  this  committee  w^as  adopted  as  follows:  "The 
synod  is  very  happy  to  have  an  opportunity  to  express 
their  readiness  to  concur  with  and  assist  in  a  mission  to  the 
African  tribes,  and  especially  where  so  many  circumstances 
concur,  as  in  the  present  case,  to  intimate  that  it  is  the  will 
of  God,  and  to  encourage  us  to  hope  for  success.  We 
assure  the  gentlemen  aforesaid,  we  are  ready  to  do  all  that 
is  proper  for  us  in  our  station  for  their  encouragement  and 
assistance."  The  part  of  the  report  which  related  to 
slavery  was  deferred  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  synod.  As 
nothing  is  said  of  the  African  mission  after  this,  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  the  war,  which  commenced  the  following  year, 
prevented  the  plan's  being  carried  into  effect.  Seven  mis- 
sionaries were  sent  to  the  south  and  west,  and  the  several 
presbyteries  were  urged  to  render  what  further  assistance 
they  could.  ^ 

In  1775,  Messrs.  Brooks,  Debow,  Keith,  Hunter,  and 
Phithian,  were  appointed  as  missionaries  to  the  south  and 
west;  and  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Ker  to  Albany,  Charlotte, 
and  Tryon  counties,  in  the  province  of  New  York.  Mr. 
Miller  was  directed  to  supply  every  fifth  Sabbath  until  the 

•  For  a  full  account  of  the  scheme  of  Dr.  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Stiles,  to  send 
missionaries  to  Africa,  and  the  reasons  of  its  ultimate  failure,  see  Princeton 
Review  and  Biblical  Repertory  for  April,  1840. 

2  Minutes,  pp.  295.  297.  305.  307. 


358  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

next  synod,  in  the  vacancies  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Sche- 
nectady. ^ 

In  1776,  Messrs.  McGill,  White,  and  Carmichael,  were 
appointed  missionaries  to  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  presbyteries  of  Newcastle  and  Philadelphia  were 
urged  to  send  missionaries  to  the  south.  Nothing  is  said  of 
the  mission  under  Mr.  Brainerd  for  several  years,  except 
the  annual  order  that  he  should  be  paid  the  interest  of  the 
three  hundred  pounds  belonging  to  the  synod  in  the  hands 
of  the  trustees  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey.  ^ 

In  1777,  a  society  of  Highland  Scots  at  Southerland, 
presented  a  petition  to  the  synod  requesting  a  supply  of 
books,  and  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  McFarquhar  might  be  ap- 
pointed to  preach  and  administer  gospel  ordinances  among 
them.  And  the  synod  ordered  a  collection  of  books  to  be 
made  for  them,  and  appointed  Mr.  McFarquhar  to  supply 
them  for  some  time. ' 

In  1778,  there  was  a  very  thinly  attended  meeting  of  the 
synod  at  Bedminster,  Somerset  county,  New  Jersey.  The 
minutes  contain  no  record  in  relation  to  missions. 

In  1779,  Dr.  Witherspoon,  the  treasurer  of  the  synod, 
reported  that  he  had  received  the  legacy  left  by  the  Rev. 
Diodati  Johnson  of  Connecticut,  for  the  aid  of  missions 
to  the  southern  colonies.^  From  a  subsequent  minute  it 
appears  that  the  money  received  was  two  hundred  and 
eighty  seven  pounds  and  a  fraction.  ^  A  member  of  the 
presbytery  of  Hanover,  requested  that  "  some  missionaries 
might  be  sent  to  the  state  of  Virginia  to  preach  the  gospel, 
and  especially  that  a  few  ministers  of  genius,  prudence,  and 
address,  might  spend  some  considerable  time  in  attempting 
to  form  the  people  into  regular  congregations  under  the 

1  Minutes,  pp.  331,  332.        2  ibid.  pp.  337,  338,  339.        ^  Ibid.  p.  350. 
4  Ibid.  p.  360,  compare  p.  295.  ^  Ibid.  p.  377. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  359 

discipline  and  government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
to  settle  among  them,  and  undertake  the  education  of  youth ; 
representing,  there  appears  at  present,  in  many  parts  of  that 
state,  a  very  favourable  disposition  towards  religion  in 
general,  and  towards  the  presbyterian  church  in  particular; 
that  it  is  greatly  for  the  interest  of  the  church  to  pay  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  this 
continent;  that  congregations  which  may  be  formed  there 
will  be  permanent  and  fixed,  whereas  the  continual  migra- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  in  our  interior  congregations  dimi- 
nishes their  importance  and  threatens  their  dissolution;  that 
it  is  not  desirable  nor  to  be  expected  that  that  extensive 
country  should  continue  long  without  some  form  of  reli- 
gion; that  this  synod  has  now  an  opportunity  of  promoting 
the  interests  of  religion  extensively,  which  in  a  few  years 
may  be  utterly  lost  by  the  prevalence  and  preoccupancy  of 
many  ignorant  and  irregular  sectaries."  The  synod,  in 
consequence  of  this  representation,  earnestly  recommended 
it  to  all  their  presbyteries,  to  turn  their  attention  to  this 
subject  as  peculiarly  interesting  and  important.  ^ 

During  the  years  1780,  81,  and  82,  the  synod  was  able 
to  do  but  little  in  the  service  of  missions.  In  1783,  it  was 
ordered  that  every  member  of  the  synod  "shall  use  his 
utmost  influence  in  the  congregation  under  his  inspection, 
and  in  the  vacancies  contiguous  to  it,  to  raise  contributions 
for  the  purchase  of  Bibles  for  distribution  among  the  poor, 
and  that  Drs.  Ewing  and  Sproat,  and  Mr.  Duffield  be  a 
committee  to  receive  such  contributions,  to  purchase  Bibles, 
and  to  send  them  to  the  several  members  of  the  synod,  who, 
in  conjunction  with  their  respective  sessions,  shall  distribute 
them."^  This  subject  was  afterwards  repeatedly  urged 
upon  the  attention  of  the  churches.  ^ 

'  Minutes,  p.  362.  2  Ibid.  p.  398.  s  ibid.  pp.  405.414. 


360  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


ACTION  OP  THE  SYNOD  IN  REFERENCE  TO  EDUCATION  AND 
LEARNING. 

With  regard  to  education,  the  influence  of  the  synod  was 
constantly  and  beneficially  exerted  by  insisting  on  proper 
literarj?-  qualifications  in  the  candidates  for  the  ministry,  by 
patronising  schools  and  colleges,  and  by  making  provision 
for  the  education  of  the  poor.  The  literary  institutions  in 
which  the  synod  were  particularly  interested,  were  the 
academy  at  Newark,  Delaware,  and  the  college  of  New 
Jersey.  The  trustees  of  the  former  were  almost  all  mem- 
bers of  the  synod,  on  whose  application  for  a  general  col- 
lection in  aid  of  the  institution,  it  was  agreed  to  counte- 
nance the  measure  and  to  recommend  the  academy  to  the 
charity  of  all  the  churches.  ^  In  1773,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ewing 
and  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  sci- 
entific attainments,  and  an  elder  in  the  presbyterian  church, 
visited  England  to  solicit  benefactions  in  behalf  of  this  aca- 
demy. Though  it  owed  its  origin  to  the  synod  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  though  at  the  time  of  its  incorporation  in  1769, 
all  its  clerical,  and,  it  is  believed,  most  of  its  lay  trustees 
were  presby terians,  ^  it  has  of  late  years  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  episcopalians,  and  is  now  known  as  Newark 
college.  With  the  college  at  Princeton,  the  connexion  of 
the  synod  was  far  more  intimate,  and  the  efforts  made  for 
its  support  were  frequent  and  strenuous. 

For  some  time  after  the  union  the  arrangement  which  had 

1  Minutes,  p.  243. 

2  The  original  trustees  were,  Hon.  William  Allen,  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Ali- 
son, Rev.  Alexander  McDowell,  Rev.  John  Ewing,  Rev.  William  McKennen, 
Rev.  Patrick  Alison,  Rev.  Matthew  Wilson,  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  Mr. 
Charles  Thompson,  Andrew  Allen,  Esqr.,  Thomas  McKean,  Esqr.,  Mr.  John 
Mease,  and  Thomas  Evans,  Esq. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  361 

been  made  between  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  and  the  trus- 
tees in  London,  for  the  support  of  German  schools,  was 
continued,  and  a  committee  annually  appointed  to  dispose 
of  the  appropriation  received  from  that  source.  ^ 

In  17G0,  a  proposition  was  made  for  the  appointment 
and  support  of  a  professor  of  divinity,  which  the  synod 
recommended  to  the  consideration  of  the  presbyteries,  that 
some  plan  might  be  devised  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  object.  ^  The  following  year,  though  the  synod  agreed 
"to  promote  this  good  purpose,  yet  from  the  pressure 
of  other  calls,  and  the  want  of  funds,  they  were  obliged 
to  defer  it."  Deeply  sensible,  however,  "  that  the  church 
suffered  greatly  for  want  of  an  opportunity  to  instruct 
students  in  the  knowledge  of  divinity,  it  was  agreed 
that  every  student,  after  he  has  been  admitted  to  his  first 
degree  in  college,  shall  read  carefully,  on  this  subject, 
at  least  one  year,  nnder  the  care  of  some  minister  of 
approved  character  for  his  skill  in  theology,  and  under  his 
direction  shall  discuss  difficult  questions  in  divinhy,  study 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  form  sermons,  lectures,  and  such  other 
useful  exercises  as  may  be  directed  in  the  course  of  his 
studies.  And  it  is  enjoined  likewise,  that  every  preacher 
for  the  first  year  after  his  licensure,  shall  show  all  his  ser- 
mons to  some  minister  in  our  presbyteries  on  whose  friend- 
ship and  candour  he  depends,  written  fairly,  to  have  them 
corrected  and  amended.  And  as  they  are  but  young 
preachers,  we  are  persuaded  that  no  better  method  can  be 
taken  in  present  circumstances  to  improve  them  in  Christian 
knowledge,  and  render  them  eminently  useful  in  their  sta- 
tion. It  is  also  enjoined  that  they  preach  as  often  as  they 
can  before  stated  ministers,  that  they  may  correct  their 
gestures,  pronunciation,  delivery,  and  the  like.     And  it  is 

'  Minutes,  pp.  21.  31.  2  ibid.  p.  36. 

31 


362  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

further  enjoined,  that  all  our  ministers  and  probationers 
forbear  reading  their  sermons  from  the  pnlpit,  if  they  can 
conveniently."  ^ 

In  1768,  in  consequence  of  a  request  from  the  trustees  of 
the  college  of  New  Jersey,  that  the  synod  would  aid  in  the 
support  of  a  professor  of  divinity  in  that  institution,  a 
general  collection  was  ordered  for  that  purpose,  and  fifty 
pounds  were  appropriated  towards  the  salary  of  the  Rev. 
John  Blair,  who  had  been  elected  to  that  office.  ^  The 
wants  of  the  college  at  this  time  were  so  pressing,  that  in 
the  following  year  the  synod  appointed  a  committee  in  every 
part  of  the  church,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  for  its 
support.  In  consequence  of  this  application,  the  presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  churches 
under  their  care,  setting  forth  the  condition  and  claims  of 
the  college.  They  state  that  its  permanent  funds,  though 
once  considerable,  had  been  reduced  by  necessary  expen- 
ditures to  £1300,  and  must  be  still  further  reduced,  as  the 
officers  could  not  be  supported  by  the  fees  for  tuition  with- 
out making  those  fees  so  high  as  seriously  to  interfere  with 
the  usefulness  of  the  institution.  It  was  urged  that  the 
college  had  peculiar  claims  on  our  church.  Even  in  1767, 
there  were  not  fewer  than  eighty  of  her  sons  ministers  of 
the  gospel  dispersed  through  the  several  colonies,  since 
which  time  there  had  been  considerable  addition  to  the 
number.  "The  eyes,"  it  is  said,  "of  by  far  the  greater 
number  of  our  vacant  churches  are  turned  to  that  college 
for  a  supply  of  ministers;  especially  the  churches  in  New 
Jersey  and  the  southern  colonies.  That  from  the  principles 
there  taught  and  received,  we  have  reason  to  think  that 
useful  instruments  not  only  have  been,  but  from  time  to 
time  will  be  raised  up  to  propagate  the  pure  evangelical 

'  Minutes,  p.  48.  -  Ibid.  p.  186. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  363 

doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  to  make  a  stand  against  such  as 
might  be  glad  to  abridge  our  liberties,  and  to  bring  us  under 
the  yoke  of  ecclesiastical  power;  instruments  to  plead  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  religion,  and  to  make  our  church 
respectable.''  ^  This  eifort  in  behalf  of  the  college  was 
continued  for  several  years,  with  what  result  is  not  fully 
known,  except  that  it  is  stated,  that  the  several  committees 
had  "been  very  diligent  and  successful."^ 

During  the  period  now  under  review,  viz:  from  175S  to 
1789,  the  college  was  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Davies, 
of  Dr.  Samuel  Finley,  and  of  Dr.  Witherspoon.  Mr.  Davies 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  July  26, 1759,  and  died 
February  4,  1761,  so  that  he  was  president  little  more  than 
eighteen  months.  Short  as  was  his  administration,  his  talents, 
and  his  devotion  to  his  duties,  rendered  it  eminently  service- 
able to  the  institution.  His  successor,  Dr.  Samuel  Finley,  en- 
tered on  his  duties  as  president,  July,  1761,  and  died  July  16, 
1766.  He  was  a  native  of  Armagh  in  Ireland,  but  removed 
to  this  country  in  1734,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  licensed  by  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery  in  1740, 
and  preached  with  great  success,  especially  in  Pennsylvania 
and  in  the  lower  counties  of  New  Jersey.  In  1744,  he 
settled  at  Nottingham  in  Maryland,  where  he  remained  for 
seventeen  years.  He  there  instituted  an  academy  which 
enjoyed  a  wide  and  deserved  reputation.  "He  was  justly 
famed  as  a  scholar,  and  eminently  qualified  as  a  teacher." 
Dr.  John  Woodhull,  who  was  one  of  his  pupils,  speaks  of 
him  as  being  always  solemn  and  instructive,  and  often  fer- 
vent in  the  pulpit,  as  extensively  learned,  and  as  greatly 

'  Minutes  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  p.  310. 

2  Minutes  of  Synod,  p.  221.  237. — It  appears  from  the  minutes  of  the 
presbytery  of  Donegal,  that  in  1772,  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  pounds  had 
been  subscribed  within  their  bounds  for  the  college,  p.  61. 


364  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

beloved  and  respected  by  his  students.  Under  his  admi- 
nistration the  college  was  very  flourishing,  and  his  own 
reputation  rapidly  extending,  when  he  was  cut  down  in  the 
prime  of  life.  About  a  year  after  he  entered  on  the  pre- 
sidency, there  was  an  extensive  revival  of  religion  in  the 
college,  in  which  fifty  of  the  students,  about  one  half  of  the 
whole  number  then  in  the  institution,  were  supposed  to 
have  become  sincerely  pious. 

Dr.  Finley  died  in  July,  1766:  the  November  following 
Dr.  Witherspoon  was  unanimously  elected  president.  Be- 
fore this  appointment  was  known,  a  number  of  gentlemen 
attached  to  that  portion  of  the  church  which,  before  the 
union  of  the  two  synods,  had  belonged  to  the  synod  of 
Philadelphia,  waited  upon  the  trustees  to  propose  the  esta- 
blishment of  several  professorships  in  the  college,  upon  a 
plan  which  should  unite  the  whole  church  in  the  support  of 
the  institution.  The  committee  of  the  trustees  appointed  to 
confer  with  these  gentlemen,  reported,  that  their  proposals 
being  based  upon  the  assumption,  that  the  president's  chair 
was  vacant,  their  plan  had  been  disconcerted  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  consequently  they  could 
not  answer  for  what  their  constituents  would  do  under 
these  altered  circumstances,  but  that  they  were  nevertheless 
truly  desirous  to  complete  the  proposed  design.  The  com- 
mittee inquired  whether,  on  the  supposition  of  the  nomi- 
nation of  two  gentlemen  for  professorships,  viz:  Messrs. 
Blair  and  McDowell,^  on  condition  that  funds  should 
be  raised  for  their  support,  their  constituents  would  be 
satisfied.'"  To  this  the  gentlemen  replied,  that,  however 
desirous  they  were  to  accomplish  so  excellent  a  design,  they 

'  "  These  gentlemen,  Mr.  Blair  of  the  new-side  and  Mr.  McDowell  of  the 
old-side  party,  were  both  of  high  standing  in  the  public  estimation,  and  of 
unquestionable  excellence  of  character." — Dr.  Green. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  365 

could  not  engage  for  the  future  conduct  of  their  constitu- 
ents. The  board  taking  into  consideration  the  above  report 
came  to  the  following  resolution:  "Whereas  it  is  an  object 
of  the  greatest  concern,  that  union  and  the  strictest  har- 
mony among  all  the  friends  and  patrons  of  religion  and 
sound  literature,  might  be  promoted  by  every  proper  me- 
thod, and  that  this  institution  may  have  every  possible 
advantage  of  increasing  its  reputation,  and  the  cause  of 
learning;  and  as  there  appears  reason  to  expect  great  and 
happy  consequences,  both  to  the  interests  of  religion  and  of 
this  seminary,  from  putting  into  execution  the  general 
design  of  the  proposals  made,  they  will  gladly  do  every 
thing  in  their  power  to  accomplish  the  said  end;  and  accor- 
dingly declare  themselves  greatly  desirous  that  a  sufficiency 
of  monies  by  subscription  or  otherwise,  might  be  obtained 
to  accomplish  this  noble  design;  and  are  cheerfully  willing 
to  join  in  any  particular  method  that  can  be  devised  for 
raising  the  necessary  sums.  For  though  this  board  would 
gladly  proceed  to  the  election  of  professors  without  delay, 
were  their  funds  sufficient  to  support  such  an  additional 
expense,  yet  they  judge  it  by  no  means  expedient  to  take 
that  step  before  they  have  a  certain  medium  for  their 
support." 

The  following  year  this  negotiation  was  renewed.  A 
number  of  gentlemen  again  attended  the  meeting  of  the 
board,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  them. 
This  committee  reported  that  they  found  them  and  their 
constituents  still  very  desirous  of  concurring  with  the  trus- 
tees of  the  college  in  the  establishment  and  support  of  a 
faculty,  and  promising  to  unite  their  utmost  endeavours  to 
raise  the  necessary  funds ;  that  the  said  gentlemen  being 
asked  by  the  committee,  whether  the  appointment  of  all  or 
of  any  of  the  particular  persons  to  professorships  named 

31* 


366  PRESBl'TERIAN  CHURCH 

and  recommended  in  their  proposals,  was  intended  as  a 
term  of  their  acceding  to  and  assisting  in  the  estabUshment 
proposed,  replied,  that  it  was  not  intended  to  make  the 
appointment  of  any  particular  persons  named  by  their  con- 
stituents, a  term  of  the  proposed  union,  but  that  any  other 
gentlemen  who  might  be  deemed  qualified  for  their  offices, 
and  indiscriminately  chosen  without  regard  to  party  dis- 
tinctions, would  be  acceptable  to  them.  The  board  taking 
the  subject  into  consideration,  were  unanimously  of  the 
opinion,  that  the  constitution  of  a  faculty,  to  consist  of  well 
qualified  professors,  to  be  chosen  without  any  regard  to 
little  party  diiferences,  would  greatly  subserve  the  interest 
of  religion  and  learning  in  this  seminary.  They,  therefore, 
determined  to  proceed  to  such  an  election ;  and  accordingly 
the  following  day  chose  the  Rev.  John  Blair  professor  of 
divinity  and  moral  philosophy;  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy;  Mr.  Jona- 
than Edwards  professor  of  languages  and  logic;  and,  as 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  in  consequence  of  the  unwillingness  of 
his  wife  to  leave  Scotland,  had  declined  the  presidency,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Blair  was  chosen  president  and  professor  of 
rhetoric  and  metaphysics.  For  the  want  of  funds  these  ap- 
pointments were  conditional,  and,  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  Mr.  John  Blair,  were  not  to  take  effect  for  a  year,  and  in 
the  meantime,  the  college  Avas  to  be  conducted  by  Mr. 
Blair  and  three  tutors.  Before  the  expiration  of  the  year 
the  difficulty  in  the  way  of  Dr.  Witherspoon's  accepting  the 
presidency  was  removed,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Blair,  having 
generously  withdrawn  his  name.  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  re- 
elected, and  arrived  in  this  country  August,  1768,  and  was 
inaugurated  as  president  on  the  seventeenth  of  that  month.  * 

'  The  above  details  respecting'  the  colleg-e  of  New  Jersey  are  derived  from 
Dr.  Green's  history  of  the  college,  already  repeatedly  referred  to.     It  would 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  3Q7 

The  deficiency  in  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the  college 
prevented  the  above  plan  being  carried  into  effect.  Even 
Mr.  Blair,  to  relieve  the  funds  of  the  institution,  resigned 
his  office  as  professor  of  divinity,  and  devolved  the  duties 
upon  Dr.  Witherspoon.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  latter, 
the  college  soon  began  to  flourish,  its  course  of  instruction 
was  enlarged,  its  students  increased,  and  the  funds  neces- 
sary for  its  support  were  supplied.  The  revolutionary  war, 
however,  soon  put  a  stop  to  this  course  of  improvement. 
The  college  was,  in  a  great  measure,  disbanded,  and  though 
a  class  graduated  in  each  year,  the  number  of  annual  gra- 
duates was  often  not  more  than  four  or  five.  When  peace 
returned,  prosperity  returned  to  the  college,  and  it  con- 
tinued to  reward  the  labours  of  its  pious  founders,  by  con- 
tributing largely  to  the  supply  of  educated  ministers  to  the 
church.  The  number  of  clergymen  educated  at  this  col- 
lege before  1789,  was  two  hundred  and  twenty-nine. 

In  1771,  a  plan  for  the  education  of  poor  and  pious  young 
men  for  the  ministry,  was  laid  before  the  synod  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  Newcastle,  which  was  approved.  This  plan  pro- 
vided that  every  vacant  congregation  receiving  supplies, 
should  pay  two  pounds  towards  an  education  fund,  every 
minister  one  pound,  and  that  voluntary  subscriptions  from 
other  quarters  should  be  solicited.  Every  presbytery  was 
to  appoint  a  treasurer,  to  examine  candidates,  to  direct  their 
studies,  &c.  Every  beneficiary  was  to  spend  one  year  after 
licensure  in  the  service  of  the  presbytery  by  which  he  had 

seem  that  the  clergy  of  what  was  called  the  old  side,  in  the  synod,  took  no 
direct  part  in  the  negotiations  for  the  enlargement  of  the  faculty  of  the  col- 
lege. At  least  on  both  occasions  the  delegation  which  waited  on  the  trus- 
tees  was  composed  of  laymen;  in  1766,  they  were  Messrs.  George  Bryan, 
John  Johnson,  William  Alison,  James  Mease,  and  Samuel  Purviance  ;  and  in 
1767,  Messrs.  George  Bryan,  William  Alison,  John  Chevalier,  John  Boyd, 
and  John  Wallace. 


368  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

been  educated;  and  in  case  he  did  not  enter  the  ministry, 
he  was  to  give  a  bond  to  refund  the  money  expended  in 
his  behalf  within  five  years.  ^  It  appears  from  the  minutes 
for  the  following  year,  that  the  presbyteries  of  New  York, 
New  Brunswick,  and  the  second  of  Philadelphia,  had  fully 
complied  with  the  above  recommendation,  and  that  several 
others  had  done  so  partially.  ^ 

In  1775,  the  question  was  proposed,  whether  a  presby- 
tery could,  with  propriety,  take  any  candidate  upon  trial 
unless  furnished  with  a  diploma  from  some  college.  The 
synod  the  following  year  answered,  that  the  advantages  of 
a  public  education  rendered  it  highly  expedient  that  all 
candidates  should  finish  their  academical  studies  in  some 
public  institution,  yet  as  the  presbyteries  were  the  proper 
judges  of  the  requisite  qualifications  of  their  candidates,  it 
was  not  intended  to  preclude  from  admission  to  trial  all 
who  had  not  enjoyed  those  advantages.^ 

In  1783,  at  the  request  of  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia, 
the  question  was  considered,  whether  a  person  without  a 
liberal  education  may  be  taken  on  trials,  or  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel?  which  was  answered  in  the  negative. ^ 
And  in  1785,  the  same  question  came  up  in  a  different 
form,  viz.  whether,  in  the  present  state  of  the  church  in 
America,  and  the  scarcity  of  ministers  to  till  our  vacancies, 
the  synod  or  presbyteries  ought  to  relax  in  any  degree  in 
the  literary  qualifications  required  of  intrants  into  the  minis- 
try? and  it  was  carried  in  the  negative  by  a  great  majori- 
ty." *  These  decisions,  considering  the  circumstances  of 
the  case,  certainly  reflect  great  credit  upon  the  synod. 

The  same  year  it  was  proposed  that  no  candidate  should 
be  taken  on  trial  until  he  shall  have  employed  two  years  at 

1  Minutes,  p.  242.  2  Ibid.  p.  273.    See  also  p.  294. 

3  Ibid.  p.  318,  and  342.  ^  ibid.  p.  396.  ^  ibid.  p.  425. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  369 

least  in  the  study  of  divinity,  after  his  having  passed  the 
usual  course  of  a  liberal  education.  This  proposition,  after 
discussion,  was  laid  over  to  the  following  year,  and  then, 
"  considering,"  as  the  synod  say,  "  the  present  circum- 
stances of  our  churches,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative."  ^ 
It  was  at  the  same  time  "  enjoined  on  every  presbytery  to 
subject  every  candidate  on  trials  for  the  ministry,  to  an 
accurate  examination  on  the  discipline  of  the  presbyterian 
church." 

The  attention  of  the  synod,  however,  was  not  confined 
to  candidates  for  the  ministry,  but  "considering  the  educa- 
tion of  youth,  and  their  being  early  instructed  in  the  princi- 
ples of  religion,  as  one  of  the  most  useful  means  of  promot- 
ing the  influence  of  religion  in  our  churches,  they  resolved, 
that  it  be  enjoined  on  every  presbytery,  in  appointing  sup- 
plies to  their  vacant  congregations,  to  take  order  that  every 
vacant  congregation  within  their  limits  be  carefully  cate- 
chised at  least  once  in  every  year,  in  the  same  manner  as 
is  required  by  the  order  of  our  church  in  congregations  sup- 
plied with  regular  pastors;  and  that  the  ministers  appoint- 
ed to  this  duty  be  required  to  render  an  account  of  their 
fidelity  in  this  respect. 

"  Resolved,  also,  that  it  be  enjoined  on  all  our  congrega- 
tions to  pay  a  special  regard  to  the  good  education  of  child- 
ren, as  being  intimately  connected  with  the  interests  of 
religion  and  morality;  and  that,  as  schools,  under  a  bad 
master  and  careless  management,  are  seminaries  of  vice 
rather  than  of  virtue,  the  session,  corporation,  or  committee 
of  every  congregation  be  required  to  endeavour  to  establish 
schools  in  such  place  or  places  as  shall  be  most  convenient 
for  the  people;  that  they  be  particularly  careful  to  procure 
able  and  virtuous  teachers ;  that  they  make  the  erection 

I  Minutes,  p.  427. 


370  PRESBYTEKIAN    CHURCH 

and  care  of  schools  a  part  of  their  congregational  business, 
and  endeavour  to  induce  the  people  to  support  them  by 
contributions,  being  not  only  the  most  effectual,  but,  in  the 
end,  the  cheapest  way  of  supporting  them;  that  the  presby- 
teries appoint  particular  members,  or,  if  possible,  commit- 
tees, to  go  into  vacant  congregations  to  promote  similar 
institutions;  that  the  corporation,  session,  or  committee  of 
the  congregation,  visit  the  school  or  schools  at  least  once  in 
three  months,  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  master,  and 
the  improvement  of  the  children,  and  to  observe  particular- 
ly his  care  to  instruct  them  at  least  one  day  in  the  week, 
in  the  principles  of  religion;  that  the  presbyteries  in  ap- 
pointing ministers  to  supply  vacant  congregations,  require 
it  as  an  indispensable  part  of  their  duty,  to  visit  at  the  same 
time  the  schools,  and  require  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
presbytery,  an  account  of  their  fidelity  in  this  respect,  and 
of  the  state  of  the  schools;  and  that  in  these  schools  effectual 
provision  be  made  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the 
poor;  and  that  at  the  visitation  of  the  schools  one  or  two  of 
the  most  ingenuous  and  virtuous  of  the  poor  children  be 
selected  annually,  in  order  to  give  them  a  more  perfect  edu- 
cation, and  thereby  qualify  these  ingenuous  charity-scho- 
lars to  become  afterwards  useful  instructers  in  our  charity- 
schools."  ^ 

THE   STANDARD  OF  DOCTRINE  IN  THE  SYNOD. 

The  standard  of  doctrine  established  and  maintained  dur- 
ing this  period  was  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith. 
In  the  first  article  of  the  plan  of  union,  it  is  said,  "  both 
synods  having  always  approved  and  received  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter 

1  Minutes,  p.  428,  9. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  372 

Catechisms  as  an  orthodox  and  excellent  system  of  Chris= 
tian  doctrine,  we  do  still  receive  the  same  as  the  confession 
of  our  faith."  In  all  the  presbyteries  every  licentiate,  or 
new  member,  was  required  to  adopt  this  confession.  The 
synod  allowed  of  no  departure  from  this  rule.  In  1764, 
the  presbytery  of  Suffolk  were  blamed  for  "  neglecting  to 
record  their  candidates  adopting  our  public  standards  at 
licensure,  though  they  inform  us,"  it  is  added,  "  that  it  is 
matter  of  constant  practice."  ^ 

Thus  also  the  synod  itself,  in  receiving  either  a  new 
member,  or  a  new  presbytery,  insisted  on  the  same  condi- 
tion. In  1765,  it  is  recorded  that  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Lea- 
vitt,  "  after  adopting  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
as  the  confession  of  his  faith,  and  having  promised  to  con- 
form himself  to  the  Westminster  Directory  for  worship  and 
government,  was  received  as  a  member  of  the  synod,  and 
was  advised  to  put  himself  under  the  care  of  some  one  of 
our  presbyteries."  2  In  1763,  a  request  was  presented 
from  a  presbytery  in  New  York,  to  the  east  of  the  North 
River,  to  be  incorporated  Avith  the  synod,  and  it  was 
"agreed  to  grant  their  request,  provided  that  they  agree  to 
adopt  our  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms, 
and  engage  to  observe  the  Directory  as  a  plan  of  worship, 
discipline,  and  government,  according  to  the  agreement  of 
this  synod."  ^  This  presbytery  complied  with  these  stipu- 
lations, and  was  accordingly  admitted.'*  In  answer  to  a 
similar  application,  made  in  1770,  from  the  presbytery  of 
South  Carolina,  the  synod  replied,  "  the  only  conditions 
which  we  require,  are,  that  all  your  ministers  acknowledge 
and  adopt,  as  the   standard  of  doctrine,  the  Westminster 

1  Minutes,  p.  107.  *  Ibid.  p.  127. 

3  Ibid.  p.  91.  ■«  Ibid.  p.  130. 


372  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  and  the  Directory  as 
the  plan  of  your  worship  and  discipUne.'"  ^ 

That  this  adoption  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  was  strict 
and  unequivocal  is  strongly  asserted  both  by  presbyteries 
and  synod.  In  1768,  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick 
having  a  missionary  in  Nova  Scotia,  had  occasion  to  write 
a  letter  to  a  gentleman  in  that  country,  in  which  they  say, 
"  We  hear  that  our  synod  has  been  injuriously  represented 
in  your  parts,  as  being  lax  in  principle  and  discipline.  But 
we  assure  you,  sir,  the  charge  is  utterly  groundless.  The 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  is  received  here  without 
equivocation,  and  in  the  true  and  proper  sense  of  the  words. 
The  doctrines  of  grace  are  truly  taught,  and  discipline  is 
regularly  and  faithfully  exercised."  At  the  same  time  they 
wrote  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Murdock,  a  seceding  minister  in 
Nova  Scotia,  to  whom  they  say,  "  We  assure  you,  dear  sir, 
the  public  standards  of  the  church  of  Scotland  are  our 
standards.  We  receive  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  in  the  true  grammatical  sense  of  the  words,  and  are 
strictly  Calvinistic.  And  the  Westminster  Directory  is  the 
model  of  our  worship  and  government."^  These  letters 
were  signed  by  John  Blair,  as  moderator,  and  William 
Kirkpatrick,  as  clerk. 

In  like  manner  a  committee  of  the  synod,  in  their  name 
and  with  their  sanction,  declared,  in  17S6,  "  the  synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  adopt,  according  to  the  known 
and  established  meaning  of  the  terms,  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith  as  the  confession  of  their  faith;  save 
that  every  candidate  for  the  gospel  ministry  is  permitted  to 
except  against  so  much  of  the  twenty-third  chapter  as  gives 

1  Ibid.  p.  223. 

2  Minutes  of  New  Brunswick  presbytery,  p.  283,  and  266. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  373 

authority  to  civil  magistrates  in  matters  of  religion.  The 
Presbyterian  church  in  America  considers  the  church  of 
Christ  as  a  spiritual  society,  entirely  distinct  from  the  civil 
government,  and  having  a  right  to  regulate  their  own  eccle- 
siastical policy,  independently  of  the  interposition  of  the 
magistrate.  The  synod  also  receive  the  Directory  for  pub- 
lic worship,  and  the  form  of  church  government,  recom- 
mended by  the  Westminster  Assembly,  as  in  substance 
agreeable  to  the  institutions  of  the  New  Testament.  This 
mode  of  adoption  we  use  because  we  believe  the  general 
platform  of  our  government  to  be  agreeable  to  the  sacred 
scriptures,  but  we  do  not  believe  that  God  has  been  pleased 
to  reveal  and  enjoin  every  minute  circumstance  of  ecclesi- 
astical government  and  discipline  as  not  to  leave  room  for 
orthodox  churches  of  Christ,  in  these  minutis,  to  differ 
with  charity  from  each  other. 

«  The  rules  of  our  discipline,  and  the  form  of  process  in 
our  church  judicatures,  are  contained  in  Pardovan's,  alias 
Stewart's  Collections,  in  conjunction  with  the  acts  of  our 
own  synod,  the  power  of  which  in  matters  merely  ecclesi- 
astical, we  consider  as  equal  to  the  power  of  any  synod  or 
general  assembly  in  the  world.  Our  church  judicatures, 
like  those  in  the  church  of  Scotland,  from  which  we  derive 
our  origin,  are  church  sessions,  presbyteries,  and  synods,  to 
which  it  is  now  in  contemplation  to  add  a  national  and 
general  assembly,"  ^ 

That  the  synod  really  maintained  as  well  as  professed 
this  standard  of  doctrine,  is  evident  from  the  ease  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Marker,  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
repeatedly  made  in  this  history.  That  gentleman  was  a 
member  of  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  and  by  them 
his  case  was  referred  to  the  synod,  who  appointed  a  com- 

1  Minutes,  p.  443. 
.32 


374  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

mittee,  of  which  Mr.  Pierson  was  the  chairman,  to  meet 
with  and  endeavour  to  convince  him  of  his  errors.  This 
committee  subsequently  reported  that  they  were  happy  to 
find,  from  Mr.  Marker's  explanations,  that  his  views  were 
correct  as  to  some  of  the  points  on  which  he  was  supposed 
to  be  erroneous,  but  that  as  to  others,  he  had  departed  from 
our  standards.  The  synod  considered  this  report  so  en- 
couraging, that  they  directed  him  to  go  to  Nottingham  and 
converse  with  Messrs.  Samuel  and  James  Finley,  John 
Blair,  Robert  and  Samson  Smith,  and  on  his  return  with 
Messrs.  Treat,  Tennent,  Ewing,  and  Alison,  in  Philadel- 
phia, in  hopes  that  his  conversion  might  be  completed. 
These  hopes,  however,  were  disappointed.  Mr.  Harker 
published  a  book  in  which  he  set  forth  and  defended  his 
peculiar  views.  When  the  synod  met  in  1762,  they  com- 
mitted this  book  to  Messrs.  Spencer,  Rodgers,  Blair,  Lau- 
rence, McDowell,  Wilson,  and  Robert  Smith,  with  direc- 
tions to  examine  it  and  make  a  report  to  the  synod.  This 
report  was  not  presented  until  the  following  year,  when  it 
appeared  that  Mr.  Harker  taught,  "  1st.  That  the  covenant 
of  grace  is  in  such  a  sense  conditional  that  fallen  mankind, 
in  their  unregenerate  state,  by  the  general  assistance  given 
to  men  under  the  gospel,  have  a  sufficient  ability  to  fulfil 
the  conditions  thereof,  and  so  by  their  own  endeavours  to 
insure  to  themselves  regenerating  grace  and  all  saving 
blessings.  2d.  That  God  has  bound  himself  by  promise  to 
give  them  regenerating  grace,  upon  their  fulfilling  what  he, 
(Mr.  Harker,)  calls  the  direct  conditions  of  obtaining  it; 
and  upon  the  whole,  makes  a  certain  and  infallible  con- 
nexion between  their  endeavours  and  the  aforesaid  bless- 
ings. 3d.  That  God's  prescience  of  future  events  is  previ- 
ous to,  and  not  dependent  on  his  decrees;  that  his  decrees 
have  no  influence  on  his  own  conduct;  and  that  the  fore- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  375 

sight  of  faith  is  the  ground  of  the  decree  of  election.  It  is 
further  observed,  that  he  often  uses  inaccurate,  unintelligi- 
ble, and  dangerous  forms  of  expression,  which  tend  to  lead 
people  into  false  notions  in  several  important  matters;  as 
that  Adam  was  the  federal  head  of  his  posterity,  in  the 
second  covenant  as  well  as  the  first;  that  the  regenerate 
are  not  (?)  in  a  state  of  probation  for  heaven,  and  such  like. 
"  The  synod  judged  that  these  principles  are  of  a  hurtful 
and  dangerous  tendency,  giving  a  false  view  of  the  cove- 
nant of  grace,  perverting  it  into  a  new-modelled  covenant 
of  works,  and  misrepresenting  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
decrees  as  held  by  the  best  reformed  churches ;  and,  in  fine, 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  and  our  approved  standards 
of  doctrine."  Mr.  Marker  was  then  called  in  and  ques- 
tioned on  many  particulars,  and  the  synod  after  referring  to 
their  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  convince  him  of  his 
errors,  say  that  he  appeared  "  to  be  rather  confirmed  and 
resolute  in  propagating  his  opinions  among  the  people,  by 
a  variety  of  methods,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  church, 
seducing  and  perplexing  the  unwary  and  unstable;  and  as 
he  has  departed  from  the  truth,  and  opposed  this  church  in 
some  important  articles,  and  misrepresented  the  church  of 
Scotland,  his  doctrine  and  practice  have  a  schismatical  ten- 
dency. On  the  whole,  though  the  exclusion  of  a  member 
be  grievous,  yet  we  judge  that  the  said  Mr.  Samuel  Har- 
ker  cannot  consistently  be  continued  a  member  of  this  body, 
and  accordingly  declare  him  to  be  disqualified  for  preach- 
ing or  exercising  his  ministry  in  any  congregation  or  vacan- 
cy under  our  care ;  and  do  hereby  order  that  all  be  duly 
warned  not  to  receive  his  doctrine,  nor  admit  his  ministra- 
tion, until  it  shall  please  God  to  convince  him  of  his  mis- 
takes, and  bring  him  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  truth, 


376  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

and  recover  him  from  the  error  of  his  ways."  ^  As  the 
synod  was  thus  strict  in  enforcing  adherence  to  our  stand- 
ards, the  fact  that  this  is  the  only  case  of  disciphne  for  erro- 
neous doctrine  recorded  on  their  minutes,  during  the  period 
from  1758  to  1789,  is  satisfactory  proof  of  the  general  ortho- 
doxy of  the  body.  It  is  probable  there  never  was  a  period 
of  equal  length  in  the  history  of  our  church,  in  which  there 
was  such  a  general  and  cordial  agreement  among  our  minis- 
ters on  all  doctrinal  subjects. 

FORM    OF    GOVERNMENT. ORDINARY  POWERS. 

In  illustrating  the  constitution  of  the  synod,  we  shall, 
agreeably  to  the  plan  hitherto  pursued,  arrange  its  acts  un- 
der the  general  heads  of  ordinary  and  extraordinary;  mean- 
ing by  ordinary,  such  as  are  conformed  to  our  present 
usages;  and  by  extraordinary,  such  as  differ  from  them  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree. 

To  the  former  of  these  classes  belong  of  course  the  forma- 
tion and  alteration  of  presbyteries.  The  synod  was  called 
upon  immediately  after  its  formation  to  enter  upon  this 
business,  in  accordance  with  one  of  the  provisions  of  the 
plan  of  union.  It  was  agreed  that  the  presbyteries  of  Suf- 
folk and  New  York  should  continue  as  they  were;  that 
Messrs.  Cowell  and  Guild  should  be  annexed  to  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  Brunswick;  that  Messrs.  Cross,  G.  Tennent, 
Alison,  Treat,  Chesnut,  Martin,  Beatty,  Greenman,  Hunter, 
Ramsay,  Lawrence,  and  Kinkead,  should  constitute  the 
presbytery  of  Philadelphia;  that  Messrs.  Wilson,  Miller, 
Tuttle,  and  Henry,  should  be  the  presbytery  of  Lewes;  that 
the  first  and  second  presbyteries  of  Newcastle,  and  the  pres- 
bytery of  Donegal,  should,  for  the  present,  continue  as  they 

'  Minutes,  p.  88,  89. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  377 

were;  and  that  Messrs.  Creaghead,  Black,  Craig,  Miller, 
Davies,  Todd,  Henry,  Wright,  Brown,  and  Martain,  should 
be  the  presbytery  of  Hanover.  ^ 

The  following  year  Messrs.  Robert  Smith,  John  Roan, 
Samson  Smith,  and  John  Hoge,  were  attached  to  the  pres- 
bytery of  Donegal,  and  the  first  and  second  presbyteries 
of  Newcastle  were  united,  with  the  provision  that  these 
changes  should  not  interfere  with  the  liberties  of  the  several 
congregations  within  the  bounds  of  those  presbyteries,  pro- 
vided for  in  the  plan  of  union.  ^ 

In  1762,  inconsequence  of  a  difference  of  opinion  among 
the  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  as  to  the 
examination  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  on  their  personal 
experience  in  religion,  Messrs.  Robert  Cross,  Francis  Alison, 
John  Ewing,  John  Symington,  and  James  Latta,  were 
formed  into  a  presbytery  for  one  year,  to  be  called  the 
second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia.^  In  1763,  the  congre- 
gations of  West  Nottingham  and  little  Britain,  together  with 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hunt  and  Strain,  with  their  congregations, 
were  set  off  from  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  to  that  of 
Donegal.-*  The  same  year  the  presbytery  of  Dutchess  in 
New  York,  was  received,  as  already  mentioned.  The 
question  whether  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
should  be  continued,  was  deferred  from  year  to  year  until 
1766,  when  it  was  voted  to  allow  it  to  remain.  Against 
this  decision  several  members  dissented  for  substantially  the 
following  reasons.  1.  The  decision  has  an  obvious  appear- 
ance of  disunion,  and  has  a  schismatical  tendency,  and  will 
be  likely  to  perpetuate  party  distinctions.  2.  As  it  is  the 
sense  of  the  synod  that  it  is  the  duty  of  presbyteries  to 
inquire  into  a  candidate's  experimental  acquaintance  with 

1  Minutes,  pp.  7  and  8.  '^  Ibid.  p.  15. 

3  Ibid.  p.  74.  ^  Ibid.  p.  93. 

32* 


378  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

religion,  it  involves  this  body  in  a  self  contradiction  to  erect  a 
presbytery  which  expressly  refuses  it.     3.  While  nothing  is 
imposed  on  persons  in  point  of  practice,  which  they  in  their 
conscience  judge  sinful,  and  they  are  not  restrained  from 
doing  their  duty,  the  rights  of  conscience  are  not  violated, 
though,  they  being  a  minority,  a  matter  in  judicature  shall 
be  carried  against  them  by  vote.     Therefore  it  is  vain  to 
urge  the  rights  of  conscience  in  such  cases.     And  for  any  to 
signify  that  they  will  not  be  subject,  even  in  such  cases,  to 
the  regulations  of  synod,  but  if  contradicted  will  violently 
break  off,  is  to  prefer  the  private  rights  of  individuals  to  the 
public  rights,  and  will  destroy  all  governing  authority  in 
the  body.     4.  It  is  a  very  bad  precedent  which  may  be 
pleaded  by  others  for  the  division  of  presbyteries,  and  by 
this  means  congregations  now  united  may  be  divided,  and 
the    formation    of  new   societies   prevented.     These   rea- 
sons were  signed  by  Messrs.   William   Tennent,  Charles 
McKnight,    John    Blair,  William    Tennent,    Jun.,  Azael 
Roe,  John  Carmichael,  Robert  Smith,  Jacob  Ker,  David 
Rose,  Nathan  Ker,  and  Simon  Horton.     Before  the  schism 
of  1741,  the  old-side  members,  so  to  call  them,  being  the 
majority  of  the  synod,  were  the  advocates  of  its  authority, 
and  the   new-side  members  the  remonstrants  against  its 
exercise.     After  the  union  in  1758,  the  new-side  members 
being  the  majority,  became  the  advocates  of  authority,  and 
the  old-side  members  remonstrants.     Of  the  correctness  of 
this  statement,  the  reader  will  find  in  the  sequel  many  illus- 
trations.    In  the  present  instance  we  find  the  Messrs.  Ten- 
nent, Blair,  &c.,  complaining  that  the  governing  authority  of 
the  synod  would  be  destroyed  if  its  regulations  might  be  dis- 
obeyed, except  in  cases  in  which  they  were  deemed  sinful. 
And  as  the  members  of  the  New  Brunswick  presbytery 
before  the  schism  pleaded  conscience  for  their  disobedience 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  379 

to  an  act  of  synod,  so  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
made  a  similar  plea  on  the  present  occasion. 

The  same  difference  of  opinion  which  caused  this  sepa- 
ration of  the  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  produced  still 
greater  difficulties  in  that  of  Donegal.  In  1765,  the  synod 
having  maturely  considered  the  situation  of  affairs  in  that 
presbytery,  determined  to  erect  the  members  living  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Susquehanna,  together  with  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Bay,  into  a  new  presbytery,  to  be  called  the  pres- 
bytery of  Carlisle,  and  to  attach  the  remaining,  members  to 
the  presbytery  of  Newcastle.  ^  Against  this  decision  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Tate,  Beard,  Elder,  Samson  Smith,  McMur- 
die,  and  Steel,  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal, 
remonstrated ;  because  it  gave  them  no  relief  from  the  grie- 
vances of  which  they  complained,  and  because  it  was  unjust 
to  dispose  of  a  presbytery  without  consulting  its  members 
or  allowing  them  to  vote.  The  synod  consented  to  review 
the  case,  but  adhered  to  their  decision,  saying,  that  those 
brethren  were  so  much  interested  in  the  matter,  that  they 
had  no  right  to  a  vote  in  reference  to  it,  though  they  ought 
to  have  been  consulted  on  the  subject.  The  synod  further 
expressed  the  hope  that  they  would  find  their  grievances 
removed  in  their  new  connexion,  and  stated  that  the  pres- 
bytery of  Newcastle  was  so  small  that  the  members  to  the 
east  of  the  Susquehanna  ought  to  be  joined  to  it,  and  that  it 
should  be  henceforth  called  the  presbytery  of  Lancaster.  ^ 

Messrs.  McDowell  and  Ewing  entered  their  dissent  from 
the  foregoing  decision,  because  it  made  the  situation  of  the 
dissatisfied  brethren  worse  than  it  was  before;  because  they 
had  unjustly  been  deprived  of  a  right  to  vote  in  the  case; 
because  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  had  been  destroyed 
without  allowing  one  of  its  members  any  voice  in  the  affair; 

»  Minutes,  p.  123.  2  Ibid.  p.  126. 


380  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

and  because  this  proceeding  was  inconsistent  with  the  plan 
of  union,  which  provided  that  the  presbyteries  then  subsist- 
ing should  not  be  united  except  when  it  was  found  for 
edification.  The  next  year,  (1766,)  Messrs.  Tate  and  Beard 
presented  a  petition  to  have  this  decision  reviewed.  The 
synod  accordingly  put  it  to  vote,  whether  their  former  judg- 
ment should  be  reversed,  and  by  a  great  majority  decided 
that  it  should  stand.  It  was  then  proposed  that  the  pres- 
bytery of  Donegal,  as  it  existed  before  the  last  synod, 
should  be  restored,  those  members  excepted  who  had  been 
set  off  to  the  Carlisle  presbytery,  and  it  was  decided  in  the 
negative.  Another  expedient  was  proposed,  viz:  that  the 
dissatisfied  members  of  the  old  Donegal  presbytery  should 
be  allowed  for  one  year  to  join  the  second  presbytery  of 
Philadelphia.  This  also  was  rejected  by  a  great  majority. 
The  following  protest  against  these  decisions  was  entered 
on  the  minutes.  "We  are  obliged,  (though  with  great 
grief,)  to  enter  our  dissent  from,  and  declare  our  protest 
against  the  conduct  and  votes  of  this  judicature  respecting 
the  late  Donegal  presbytery,  for  such  reasons  as  these, 
'  1.  Because  our  distressed  brethren  always  declared  a 
scruple  of  conscience  as  the  foundation  of  their  petition  and 
behaviour,  viz:  That  they  could  not  in  conscience  submit 
to  the  examination  of  the  hearts  or  experiences  of  candi- 
dates in  the  way  voted  by  the  synod,  as  they  esteemed  it 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  to  common  sense,  and  the 
uniform  practice  of  the  protestant  churches;  consequently 
whether  well  or  ill  informed,  it  was  a  matter  that  could  not 
be  voted  away.  2.  Because  it  appeared  very  untender 
and  unbrotherly  to  deny  that  those  members  could  be  con- 
scientious in  the  affair,  when  they  declared  they  were  so. 
We  cannot  judge  what  matters  will  affect  other  men's  con- 
sciences.    3.  Because  even  the  smallest  matter  if  imposed 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  381 

against  the  rights  of  conscience  obliges  the  injured  to  leave 
the  communion.  To  exclude  men  from  exercising  the 
power  of  ordination,  unless  they  submit  to  it  in  a  way  con- 
trary to  their  judgment,  is  such  an  imposition;  and,  there- 
fore, the  schism,  in  consequence  hereof,  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  imposers,  and  not  to  those  who  are  obliged  to  with- 
draw. 4.  Because  by  the  spirit  of  the  plan  of  union,  pres- 
byteries were  not  to  be  joined,  unless  for  edification;  but 
this  modelling  evidently  tends  to  ruin  and  destruction. 
5.  Because  the  synod  seem  to  act  too  arbitrary  a  part  by 
forcing  members  into  presbyteries  without  their  consent, 
and  the  consent  of  their  congregations.  6.  Because  these 
violent  and  precipitate  votes  have  rent  the  church  of  Christ, 
alas!  too  much  divided  already,  to  the  joy  of  our  enemies, 
the  grief  and  distress  of  all  sincere  Christians,  and  the 
reproach  of  the  Christian  name,  when  only  exchanging  a 
member  or  two  in  two  presbyteries  might  have  prevented 
the  breach.' 

"These  reasons,  together  with  those  entered  by  two 
members,  (Messrs.  McDowell  and  Ewing,)  against  a  judg- 
ment of  the  last  synod  respecting  the  alteration  of  presby- 
teries, prevail  with  us  to  enter  this  our  protest,  whereby  we 
exonerate  our  consciences  in  order  to  continue  in  your  com- 
munion, and  declare  before  God  and  the  world,  that  we  are 
free  from  blame  in  this  whole  procedure.  Matthew  Wilson, 
John  Ewing,  Patrick  Alison,  Francis  Alison." 

In  consequence  of  the  above  votes,  Messrs.  Joseph  Tate 
and  John  Beard  brought  in  the  following  document: 
"To  the  Rev.  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia:  We 
the  subscribers  humbly  beg  leave  to  show,  that  we  much 
desire  to  be  in  union  and  friendship  with  this  Rev.  body, 
and  would  not  knowingly  be  the  real  authors  of  any  discord 
in  the  church  of  Christ;  yet  the  determinations  of  the  synod 


382  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

consequent  on  onr  petition  presented  last  year,  and  again 
to  this  present  meeting,  seem  so  grievous  and  oppressive  to 
us,  and  threatening  to  the  credit  and  interest  of  religion, 
that  we  find  ourselves  obliged  to  declare  to  this  Rev.  synod 
that  we  cannot  submit  to  them,  and  we  hereby  decline  all 
authority  and  jurisdiction  of  this  body,  and  that  no  judg- 
ment or  determination  thereof  shall  bind  us  or  affect  our 
persons  or  ministry,  until  these  differences  of  sentiment  be 
removed  by  better  light,  and  satisfactory  means  be  found 
to  reconcile  and  unite  us  with  this  Rev.  body  again;  and 
as  we  earnestly  desire  and  pray  for  this,  we  reserve  to  our- 
selves and  expect  the  liberty  at  any  time  respectfully  to 
offer  such  proposals  as  we  may  think  likely  to  answer  that 
end;  and  upon  our  satisfying  the  Rev.  synod,  or  they  us, 
to  return  to  our  enjoyment  of  our  privileges  with  them. 
And  in  the  mean  time  we  shall  endeavour  to  carry  respect- 
fully towards  this  Rev.  synod,  avoiding  whatever  might 
unnecessarily  inflame  unchristian  passions,  or  tend  to  hinder 
the  influence  of  our  brethren  in  the  gospel,  and  expect  to 
be  mutually  treated  by  our  brethren  as  ministers  of  Christ." 
They  then  briefly  assign  the  reasons  for  their  declining, 
which  are  substantially  those  given  in  support  of  the  pro- 
test above  mentioned,  except  the  third,  in  which  they  com- 
plain that  "  the  proceedings  of  the  synod  in  this  as  well  as 
in  many  other  affairs,  appear  plainly  calculated  to  bear 
down  one  part  of  this  united  synod,  and  suppress  their  influ- 
ence, contrary  to  the  equality  and  rights  of  members,  and 
to  the  nature  and  whole  professed  design  of  our  union."  ^ 

The  next  day  Messrs.  Richard  Treat  and  Read  brought 
in  an  overture  as  a  good  expedient  for  the  peace  of  the 
synod,  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  brethren  complaining,  viz: 
that  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  should  be  restored  to  its 

»  Minutes,  p.  140. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  30a 

former  state,  as  before  the  last  synod,  with  the  members 
since  settled  within  their  bounds.  The  synod  agreed  to 
this  proposal,  and  also  revived  the  late  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, which  was  to  meet  according  to  its  last  adjournment 
when  under  the  name  of  the  presbytery  of  Lancaster. ' 

Unhappily  this  conciliatory  measure  did  not  satisfy  the 
discontented  portion  of  the  Donegal  presbytery.  In  1767, 
they  addressed  a  letter  to  the  synod  saying,  that  they  were' 
willing  to  return  to  communion  with  the  church,  provided 
the  synod  would  erect  them  into  a  presbytery  by  them- 
selves. This  request  was  refused,  but  in  order,  it  is  said, 
"  to  remove  the  uneasiness  of  our  brethren,  and  to  promote' 
harmony  and  peace,  we  appoint  Messrs.  Buel,  Rodgers, 
Horton,  Kirkpatrick,  Beatty,  Blair,  and  Miller,  a  committee' 
to  bring  in  an  overture  relative  to  their  petition."  This 
committee  made  a  report  in  which  they  expressed  great 
disapprobation  of  the  conduct  of  those  brethren,  and  yet  to 
put  an  end  to  the  schism,  they  proposed  that  they  should  be 
erected  into  a  separate  presbytery,  with  the  proviso,  that  if 
any  of  them  should  remove  out  of  the  bounds  of  that  pres- 
bytery, they  should  become  members  of  the  presbytery 
within  whose  limits  they  resided.  This  proposal,  however, 
was  rejected  by  a  considerable  majority.  ^ 

In  1768,  the  dissatisfied  brethren  presented  the  same 
petition,  which  was  again  rejected  by  a  very  strong  vote. 
The  next  day  Mr.  Tate  informed  the  synod  that  though  he 
was  not  authorized  to  make  the  proposal,  he  had  no  doubt 
his  brethren  would  be  satisfied,  if  the  synod  would  distri- 
bute them  among  the  presbyteries  of  Donegal,  Newcastle, 
and  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  The  synod, 
though  they  expressed  strong  disapprobation  of  their  past 
conduct,  agreed  to  authorize  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  to 
'  Minutes,  p.  143.  2  ibjd.  pp.  157.  159.  166. 


384  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

receive  Mr.  Samuel  Thompson  and  Mr.  Lang,  the  presby- 
tery of  Newcastle  to  receive  Mr.  S,  Smith  and  Beard,  and 
the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  receive  Messrs. 
Tate,  Elder,  Steel,  and  McMurdie;  provided  first,  that  this 
regulation  should  not  subject  any  vacancies  within  the 
bounds  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  to  any  other  presby- 
tery, nor  should  such  vacancies,  without  express  permission, 
apply  to  any  other  presbytery  for  supplies;  and  secondly, 
if  any  of  the  said  brethren  comply  with  this  regulation,  they 
shall  previously  and  expressly  withdraw  their  declining 
document,  entered  in  1766,  and  without  such  withdrawal 
they  shall  not  be  received  as  members  either  of  the  synod 
or  of  any  of  the  presbyteries.  ^  These  provisos  were  just 
and  reasonable,  but  it  is  well  to  remark  the  tone  of  autho- 
rity in  the  synod  which  they  indicate.  The  Rev.  ]\Ir. 
Strain  protested  against  the  above  decision,  and  Messrs. 
John  Roan,  John  Slemmons,  Robert  Cooper,  and  George 
Duffield  dissented,  assigning  their  reasons.  These  reasons 
are  such  as  might  be  anticipated,  viz.  that  the  decision 
sanctioned  the  bad  temper  and  irregular  conduct  of  the  dis- 
satisfied brethren,  set  a  bad  precedent,  tended  to  strengthen 
the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  which,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  many  members  of  the  synod  ought  not  to  exist  at 
all,  &c.  ^  It  appears  from  the  minutes  for  the  following 
year,  that  this  plan  was  carried  into  effect,  and  this  second 
schism  was  thus  healed.  This  measure  was  evidently  car- 
ried through  by  the  members  at  a  distance  from  the  scene 
of  contention,  as  Mr.  Strain  and  all  the  dissentients  were 
members  of  the  presbytery  of  Donegal. 

In  1770,  on  a  petition  from  certain  members  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  Hanover,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hugh  McCaden, 
Henry  Patillo,   James  Criswell,  David   Caldwell,  Joseph 

1  Minutes,  p.  183.  2  Ibid.  p.  184,  185. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  385 

Alexander,  Hezekiah  James  Balch,  and  Hezekiah  Balch, 
were  formed  into  a  presbytery  to  be  called  the  presbytery 
of  Orange.  ^ 

In  1781,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Joseph  Smith,  John  McMil- 
lan, James  Power,  and  Thaddeus  Dodd,  were  constituted 
the  presbytery  of  Redstone.  ^  These  were  the  pioneers  of 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  were  a  noble  set  of  men. 

In  1 784,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Alexander,  Francis  Cummiugs, 
James  Edmunds,  John  Harris,  Thomas  Reese,  and  John 
Simpson,  were  set  off  from  the  presbytery  of  Orange,  and 
constituted  the  presbytery  of  South  Carolina.  ^ 

In  1785,  at  the  request  of  Messrs.  Samuel  Doak,  Heze- 
kiah Balch,  and  Charles  Cummings,  the  presbytery  of 
Abingdon  was  formed  out  of  the  presbytery  of  Hanover, 
to  be  bounded  by  New  River  on  the  side  next  the  presby- 
tery of  Hanover,  and  by  the  Apalachian  mountains  on  that 
next  the  presbytery  of  Orange.  '* 

In  1786,  an  extensive  remodelling  of  the  presbyteries 
took  place  preparatory  to  the  division  of  the  synod  and  the 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution.  The  presbytery  of  Abing- 
don was  divided  into  two  parts,  the  one  to  consist  of  the  Rev. 
Charles  Cummings,  Hezekiah  Balch,  John  Casson,  Samuel 
Doak,  and  Samuel  Houston,  to  be  known  as  the  presby- 
tery of  Abingdon;  the  other  to  consist  of  Rev.  David  Rice, 
Thomas  Craighead,  Adam  Rankin,  Andrew  McClure,  and 
James  Crawford,  to  be  known  as  the  presbytery  of  Tran- 
sylvania. The  presbytery  of  Hanover  was  divided  iuto 
two  parts,  the  one  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Sanchey, 
John  Todd,  James  Waddell,  William  Irvine,  John  B.  Smith, 
James  Mitchell,  John  D.  Blair,  and  Daniel  McCalla,  to  be 
known  as  the  presbytery  of  Hanover;  and  the  other  con- 
sisting of  the  Rev.  John  Brown,  William  Graham,  Archi- 

>  Minutes,  p.  224.  2  Ibid.  p.  378.  3  Ibid.  p.  408.  *  Ibid.  p.  423. 

33 


386  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

bald  Scott,  James  McConnel,  Edward  Crawford,  Benjamin 
Erwin,  John  Montgomery,  William  Wilson,  Moses  Hoge, 
John  McCrie,  Samuel  Carrick,  and  Samuel  Shannon,  to  be 
known  as  the  presbytery  of  Lexington.  It  was  also  agreed 
that  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  be  divided  into  two,  one  of 
which  to  consist  of  the  Rev.  John  Slemmons,  James  Hunt, 
Stephen  Balch,  and  Isaac  Keith,  with  Dr.  Patrick  Alison, 
of  the  late  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Rev. 
George  Luckey,  from  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  to  be 
known  as  the  presbytery  of  Baltimore;  and  the  other  to 
consist  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Thompson,  John  Hoge,  Hugh 
Magill,  Robert  Cooper,  James  Martin,  James  Lang,  John 
Craighead,  John  King,  Hugh  Vance,  Thomas  McFarren, 
John  McKnight,  Dr.  Robert  Davidson,  John  Black,  Samuel 
Dougall,  John  Lynn,  David  Beard,  Samuel  Waugh,  Joseph 
Henderson,  Matthew  Steven,  and  James  Johnston,  with 
the  Rev.  John  Elder,  and  Robert  McMurdie,  from  the  late 
second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  to  be  known  as  the  pres- 
bytery of  Carlisle.  The  Rev.  Colin  McFarquhar,  late  of 
the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  was  annexed  to  the  presbytery 
of  Newcastle.  The  distinction  between  the  first  and  second 
presbyteries  of  Philadelphia  was  abolished. 

GENERAL  REGULATIONS;    AND  CASES  OF  CONSCIENCE. 

Under  the  head  of  ordinary  powers  of  the  synod  is  to  be 
referred,  not  only  the  authority  which  it  exercised  of  resolv- 
ing questions  of  conscience,  and  of  determining  whether  a 
given  doctrine  was  consistent  with  our  standards,  but  also 
of  laying  down  rules  of  discipline.  In  reference  to  this  lat- 
ter point,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  right  which  by 
our  present  constitution  is  reserved  to  the  majority  of  the 
presbyteries,  of  forming  constitutional  rules,  was  formerly 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  387 

exercised  by  the  synod,  in  which  all  the  presbyteries  met 
as  one  body.  Of  the  exercise  of  this  right  by  the  original 
synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  by  each  of  the  two  synods  dur- 
ing the  schism,  many  examples  have  already  been  given. 
In  the  united  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  this 
authority  continued  to  be  exercised  until  the  last.  The 
most  common  method  of  proceeding,  was  for  some  member, 
or  presbytery,  to  submit  an  overture  or  query,  for  the 
decision  of  the  synod;  and  the  determination  either  consti- 
tuted a  rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  presbyteries,  or  express- 
ed the  refusal  of  the  synod  to  make  the  overture  into  a  rule. 
Thus,  in  the  preceding  pages,  when  speaking  of  the  subject 
of  education,  we  had  occasion  to  notice  that  at  one  time  it 
was  determined  that  all  candidates  for  the  ministry  should 
study  divinity  for  at  least  one  year  after  the  completion  of 
their  academical  course;  at  another,  the  proposition  that 
they  should  be  required  to  study  two  years,  was  rejected. 
Again,  the  proposal  that  every  candidate  should  be  required 
to  produce  a  college  diploma,  before  being  taken  on  trial, 
was  rejected;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  proposition  that 
a  liberal  education  should  be  dispensed  with,  was  repeated- 
ly discarded. 

In  1760,  five  such  propositions  or  queries  were  submit- 
ted to  the  synod.  The  first  inquired  how  many  ministers 
must  unite  in  a  request  to  the  moderator  of  the  commission, 
or  of  a  presbytery,  in  order  to  oblige  him  to  call  a  meeting 
of  the  judicatory.^  The  synod  decided  that,  in  case  of 
emergency,  the  moderator  himself  might  call  the  judicatory 
together;  or,  on  the  application  of  any  two  members  in  the 
case  of  a  presbytery,  or  of  four  or  five  in  the  case  of  the 
commission,  provided  that  due  notice  were  given  to  all  the 
members  of  the  occasion,  time,  and  place  of  the  meeting.  ^ 

'  Minutes,  p.  39, 


388  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

The  second  related  to  the  choice  of  a  moderator,  with 
regard  to  which  the  synod  agreed,  that  no  moderator  had 
a  right  to  preside  in  any  of  our  presbyteries,  except  in  virtue 
of  the  choice  of  the  members  then  met;  but  that  presbyte- 
ries might  elect  the  same  person  for  moderator  from  time 
to  time,  if  they  thought  proper.  ^ 

The  third  was,  whether  a  candidate  might  apply  to  what 
presbytery  he  pleased  for  examination  and  licensure.  The 
synod  decided  that  any  student  had  a  right,  in  our  present 
situation,  to  study  with  any  divine  of  reputation  connected 
with  the  synod,  according  to  a  former  act;  but  when  he 
offered  himself  for  examination,  he  should  apply  to  that 
presbytery  within  whose  bounds  he  had  generally  resided. 
For  sufficient  reasons,  however,  such  student  might  be 
remitted  from  one  presbytery  to  another,  in  which  case  the 
latter  was  not  to  receive  him  on  a  mere  certificate  of  church 
membership,  but  should  require  him  to  produce  testimonials 
from  his  former  presbytery,  or  from  several  neighbouring 
ministers,  recommending  him  as  a  candidate  of  exemplary 
piety  and  holiness  of  conversation.  ^ 

The  fourth  question  was  to  this  effect,  whether  a  minister 
ordained  either  abroad  or  by  some  ecclesiastical  body  in 
this  country,  not  in  connexion  with  our  church,  should  be 
received  by  our  presbyteries,  on  his  producing  proper  testi- 
monials, provided  he  adopts  our  Confession,  and  promises 
subjection  in  the  Lord?  This  question  was  answered  twice, 
first  in  1764,  and  again  in  1765.  These  answers  differ  very 
little  from  each  other.  The  latter  is  as  follows:  "It  is 
undoubtedly  the  right  of  presbyteries  to  converse  with  any 
probationer  or  minister  from  foreign  parts,  as  far  as  may 
be  necessary  to  give  them  satisfaction,  and  not  receive  him 
implicitly  on  a  certificate,  however  fair  and  regular,  to- 

1  Minutes,  p.  50.  2  Ibid.  p.  104. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  389 

gether  with  his  general  profession  of  adopting  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  and  Catechisms.  But  if  such  probationer 
or  minister  shall  come  from  a  church  or  judicature  gene- 
rally suspected,  or  known  to  be  erroneous,  or  lax  and  neg- 
ligent with  respect  to  the  moral  conduct  or  piety  of  their 
candidates  or  members;  or  if  they  shall  come  from  any 
number  of  ministers,  who  may  convene  without  any  regu- 
lar constitution,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  licensing  or 
ordaining  particular  persons;  in  that  case  a  certificate  from 
such  a  judicature,  and  such  a  general  profession  of  the  par- 
ties respecting  the  Confession  of  Faith,  are  still  less  satis- 
factory and  render  it  highly  necessary  for  the  presbytery  to 
which  such  application  shall  be  made,  to  be  more  particular 
and  exact  in  examining  the  principles  of  such  probationer 
or  minister  before  they  admit  him  or  employ  him  in  their 
bounds,"  ^ 

The  fifth  question  was,  whether  it  was  regular  for  our 
students  of  divinity  to  go  into  New  England  or  elsewhere 
for  licensure,  with  the  intention  of  returning  to  officiate 
within  our  bounds.  To  this  it  was  answered:  "Though 
the  synod  entertain  a  high  regard  for  the  associated  churches 
of  New  England,  yet  we  cannot  but  judge  that  students 
who  go  to  them,  or  to  any  other  than  our  own  presbyteries 
to  obtain  license,  in  order  to  return  and  officiate  among 
us,  act  very  irregularly,  and  are  not  to  be  approved  or 
employed  by  our  presbyteries;  as  hereby  we  are  deprived 
of  the  right  of  trying  and  approving  the  qualifications  of 
our  own  candidates;  yet  if  any  case  may  happen  wherein 
such  a  conduct  be  thought  necessary  for  the  greater  good 
of  any  congregation,  it  shall  be  laid  before  the  presby- 
tery to  which  that  congregation  belongs  and  approved  by 
them."  2 

•  Minutes,  p.  116.  compare  p.  104.  2  Jbid  p.  105. 

33* 


390  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

In  1762,  an  overture,  or  as  it  was  called  a  case  of  con- 
science, was  introduced  into  synod  respecting  the  examina- 
tion of  candidates  for  the  ministry  on  the  subject  of  experi- 
mental religion,  which  gave  rise  to  considerable  difficulty. 
This  was  a  subject  of  dispute  between  the  two  parties  in 
the  church  before  the  schism,  though  it  was  never  promi- 
nently presented.  Both  parties  professed  to  agree  as  to  the 
necessity  of  experimental  religion  as  a  qualification  for  the 
sacred  office;  and  as  to  the  duty  of  the  presbytery  to  satisfy 
themselves  that  every  candidate  possessed  this  qualifica- 
tion. Mr.  Thompson  in  his  sermon  on  conviction  of  sin, 
says,  "  It  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  every  one  who  would 
aspire  to  the  sacred  office,  to  pray  and  labour  in  the  greatest 
earnest  for  true  sanctifying  grace,  and  all  other  necessary 
qualifications  to  fit  him  for  his  work;  and  to  propose  single 
ends  and  views  to  himself  in  undertaking  it.  And  it  is  no 
less  the  duty  of  those,  whose  part  it  is  to  call  and  ordain 
men  to  that  work,  to  take  all  possible  care  to  inquire  into 
the  saving  grace  as  well  as  other  qualifications  in  the  per- 
sons to  be  ordained;  and  the  neglect  of  either  is  a  heinous 
sin,  and  of  a  dreadful  tendency;  no  doubt  a  graceless  mi- 
nistry is  an  awful  plague  and  scourge  to  any  people."  ^  In 
answer  to  the  complaint  of  Mr.  G.  Tennent  and  of  Mr. 
Blair,  against  their  brethren  for  admitting  men  to  the  minis- 
try "  without  questioning  them  about  their  Christian  expe- 
rience," he  says,  "We  are  directed  by  the  Westminster 
Assembly  to  inquire  touching  the  grace  of  God  in  the  can- 
didate, and  if  he  be  of  such  holiness  of  life,  as  is  requisite 
in  a  minister  of  the  gospel,"  and  adds:  "  I  am  sure  as  to  the 
practice  of  some  presbyteries,  that  it  is  not  ordinary  or 
habitual  in  their  practice  to  neglect  this  part  of  their  work." 
And  in  stronger  language:  "That  we  allow  ourselves  to 

'  Sermon  on  Convictions,  p.  73;  printed  in  1741. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  391 

neglect  all  inquiry  about  the  grace  of  God  in  candidates,  is 
a  downright  slander  and  falsehood.  That  in  some  instances 
we  may  be  deficient,  is  readily  acknowledged,  aS  well  as  in 
many  other  parts  of  our  work."  ^  And  in  the  sixth  article 
of  the  plan  of  union  unanimously  adopted  by  both  synods, 
it  was  agreed,  "  That  no  presbytery  shall  license  or  ordain 
to  the  holy  ministry  any  candidate,  until  he  give  them 
competent  satisfaction  as  to  his  learning  and  experimental 
acquaintance  with  religion."  It  was  not,  therefore,  either 
as  to  the  necessity  of  this  experimental  acquaintance  with 
religion,  or  as  to  the  duty  of  the  presbytery  to  examine 
into  this  point,  that  the  difference  of  opinion  existed.  It 
was  as  to  the  proper  method  of  ascertaining  whether  the 
candidate  possessed  this  experimental  knowledge  or  not. 
The  one  side  contended  that  a  profession  of  faith,  a  holy 
life  and  conversation,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  evi- 
dences of  experimental  religion,  and  of  the  criteria  between 
true  and  false  religious  exercises,  was  all  that  could,  with 
propriety,  be  demanded.  The  other  insisted  on  a  detail  of 
the  exercises  of  the  candidate's  own  heart,  or  of  his  personal 
experience.  To  this  it  was  objected,  that  such  a  detail  was 
imsatisfactory,  inasmuch  as  it  was  the  mere  testimony  of 
the  man  in  his  own  behalf;  and  that  it  was  unauthorized. 
"No  man  or  judicature  on  earth,"  says  Mr.  Thompson, 
"hath  a  right  to  know  my  spiritual  state  further  than  a 
profession  of  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  and  owning  subjection 
to  its  precepts  go.  None  has  a  right  to  know  the  secret 
intercourse  between  me  and  my  God,  or  between  me  and 
my  own  wicked  heart  and  Satan's  temptations.  These 
things  are  among  the  religious  secrets  which  I  have  a  right 
to  conceal  or  to  discover,  as  Christian  prudence  or  discretion 
shall  direct."  ^ 

«  Government  of  the  Church,  pp.  24,  25.  47.  2  Ibid.  pp.  24,  25.  47. 


392  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
this  period,  that  Mr.  Tennent,  who  was  so  strenuous  for  the 
examination  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  as  to  their  own 
personal  experience,  and  in  whose  presbytery  the  difficulty 
on  this  subject  arose  and  led  to  its  division,  and  for  a  time 
threatened  a  new  schism,  was  equally  strenuous  in  his 
opposition  to  Edwards'  doctrine,  that  none  but  those  who 
gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  true  piety,  ought  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Lord's  Supper.  "  The  terms  of  church  fellow- 
ship," he  says,  "which  God  has  fixed,  are  soundness  in  the 
main  doctrines  of  religion  and  a  regular  life."  To  support 
his  opinion  he  remarks:  "The  aforesaid  terms  that  Christ 
has  fixed  may  be  certainly  known,  and  therefore  they  are 
rational.  But  some  of  the  novel  and  superstitious  terms 
which  some  good  men  have  invented,  though  with  a  pious 
design,  are  irrational,  because  they  cannot  be  certainly 
known,  unless  it  be  supposed  that  churches  are  infallible  in 
their  determinations;  a  claim  which  the  protestants,  some 
enthusiasts  excepted,  have  not  pretended  to,  at  least  in 
words;  but  the  Bible  is  a  stranger  to  such  terms  of  commu- 
nion; I  know  not  one  passage  in  it,  that  proves  converting 
grace,  or  the  church's  judgment  of  it  to  be  a  term  of  Chris- 
tian communion  of  divine  appointment.  If  any  think 
otherwise,  let  them  prove  it,  and  I  will  give  an  attentive 
ear  and  readily  submit  to  their  instruction  and  correction. 
But  I  humbly  conceive  they  will  find  it  a  hard  task  with- 
out producing  another  Bible."  ^  In  another  place  he  says: 
"  Nor  does  our  church  pretend  to  any  right  or  authority  of 

'  Irenicum  Ecclesiasticum,  p.  79.  To  the  passage  thus  quoted,  he  adds 
the  note,  "  I  cannot  find  the  Christians  of  the  first  three  centuries  made  gra- 
cious experiences,  or  the  church's  judgment  about  them  terms  of  commu- 
nion. Thej  made  no  inquiries  about  them  as  to  baptism ;  and  all  that  were 
baptized  and  free  from  church  censure  came  to  the  sacrament." 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  393 

excluding  any  from  the  Lord's  Supper  upon  the  precarious 
foundation  of  their  judgment  concerning  men's  inward 
experiences  of  a  work  of  invisible  grace.  No;  the  compi- 
lers of  our  Confession  had  more  judgment  than  to  advance 
such  an  indefensible  notion.  See  the  answer  to  the  one 
hundred  and  seventy-third  question  in  the  Larger  Cate- 
chism. '  May  any  who  profess  faith  and  desire  to  come 
to  the  Lord's  Supper  be  kept  from  it?  Answer:  Such  as 
are  found  to  be  ignorant  or  scandalous,  notwithstanding 
their  profession  of  faith  and  desire  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  may  and  ought  to  be  kept  from  that  sacrament  by 
the  power  which  Christ  has  left  in  his  church,  until  they 
receive  instruction  and  manifest  reformation.'  It  is  plea- 
sant to  see  the  amiable  modesty,  the  necessary  caution  and 
good  judgment  of  our  church,  in  declining  to  assume  the 
bench,  and  make  her  uncertain  opinion  of  men's  spiritual 
experiences,  the  term  of  their  admission  either  to  the  initia- 
tory or  confirming  seal  of  the  new  covenant.  No;  she 
well  understood  and  remembered  that  ancient,  scriptural, 
rational,  and  equitable  maxim,  ecclesia  non  judicat  de 
interjiis,  that  the  church  has  no  business  to  judge  of  inter- 
nals, or  to  make  her  opinion  of  men's  spiritual  experiences, 
the  ground  of  her  judicial  proceedings  towards  them."  ^ 
This  was  the  doctrine  which  one  portion  of  the  synod 
applied  to  the  admission  or  rejection  of  candidates  for 
ordination. 

The  question  was  brought  up  in  1761,  by  an  overture  to 
the  following  effect:  "As  holiness  is  a  qualification  requi- 
site in  a  gospel  minister:  Quere,  whether  it  be  the  duty  of 
a  presbytery,  or  possible  for  them  to  make  candidates  give 
a  narrative  of  their  personal  exercises,  and  upon  this  form 
a  judgment  of  their  real  spiritual  state  towards  God,  as  the 

'  Irenicum,  p.  27. 


394  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

ground  of  admitting  or  rejecting  them?"  ^  The  considera- 
tion of  this  question  was  deferred  to  the  following  year. 
It  was  then  agreed  that  the  persons  proposing  a  query  had 
a  right  to  explain  it,  and  to  state  the  precise  point  which 
they  wished  decided.  The  authors  of  the  overture  were 
accordingly  allowed  to  present  the  following  exposition  of 
their  views: 

"A  case  of  conscience  being  proposed  to  the  synod  con- 
cerning the  means  of  obtaining  competent  satisfaction  with 
candidates'  experimental  acquaintance  with  religion,  and 
the  synod  finding  some  difficulty  in  settling  precisely  the 
matter  to  be  considered,  having  ordered  some  of  us  who 
desire  the  case  should  be  examined,  to  bring  in  a  distinct 
statement  of  the  matter,  we  give  the  following  as  our  sense 
of  the  article  in  our  plan  of  union,  relating  to  the  affair, 
and  of  the  case  of  conscience  proposed  to  consideration. 

"According  to  the  sixth  article  of  our  plan  of  union,  we 
think  and  declare  that  no  presbytery  should  license  or  ordain 
any  candidate,  until  they  have  competent  satisfaction  con- 
cerning his  learning,  experimental  acquaintance  with  reli- 
gion, skill  in  divinity  and  cases  of  conscience;  and  so  pro- 
fess ourselves  against  admitting  any  to  that  sacred  office 
without  such  satisfaction,  as  to  his  learning,  obtained  by 
proper  trials;  but  what  these  must  be  the  article  does  not 
particularly  determine. 

"  And  as  exemplary  holiness  is  essential  to  the  ministe- 
rial character,  we  declare  all  appointed  warrantable  means 
are  to  be  used  to  secure  a  godly  ministry,  and  allow  none 
to  be  admitted  to  that  important  work,  but  such  as  make 
serious  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  obedience  to 
him,  and  give  proper  visible  evidence  of  their  sincerity 
herein,  by  exemplary  holiness  in  every  branch  of  Christian 

>  Minutes,  p.  50. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  395 

conversation,  respecting  God,  their  neighbours,  and  them- 
selves, so  as  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour; 
and  so  competent  satisfaction  as  to  their  experimental  reli- 
gion should  be  had,  as  well  as  of  their  learning;  though 
neither  does  said  article  in  this  define  the  means  of  obtain- 
ing it. 

"  We  also  declare,  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  that 
sacred  work  without  competent  skill  in  divinity,  and  in 
cases  of  conscience,  that  they  may  be  apt  to  teach,  to  show 
the  true  Scriptural  marks  of  real  converts,  how  far  hypo- 
crites may  go,  and  whereby  deceive  themselves;  what  are 
the  usual  exercises  of  persons  in  the  work  of  conversion, 
and  after  godliness;  and  so  capable  to  feed  the  flock,  direct 
their  spiritual  exercises,  and  speak  to  their  several  cases. 
And  we  declare  against  admitting  to  that  sacred  trust,  or 
continuing  in  it,  any  who  are  found  ignorant,  unsound, 
unholy,  or  scandalous. 

"  And  we  understand  the  said  article  to  require  compe- 
tent satisfaction  in  the  particulars  mentioned,  but  not  at  all 
to  define  the  way  or  means  by  which  that  satisfaction  must 
be  sought;  and,  therefore,  as  to  the  means  and  grounds  of 
this  satisfaction,  we  think  that  a  serious  profession  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  obedience  to  him,  attended  with  credible  evi- 
dences of  sincerity,  in  the  fruits  of  an  habitual  godly,  sober 
life,  with  like  profession  that  the  solemn  work  is  not  under- 
taken for  filthy  lucre,  but  out  of  desire  to  glorify  God  and 
promote  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls,  are  the  scriptural, 
prescribed,  and  only  means  of  said  competent  satisfaction  to 
a  judicature,  whose  judicial  sentence  must  be  founded  on 
things  known  and  certain.  And  we  think  that  men's  decla- 
rations of  their  own  experience  in  religion,  which  is  but 
their  own  testimony  of  themselves,  is  no  commanded,  war- 


396  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

rantable,  or  useful  means  that  a  judicature  should  require, 
or  in  any  measure  found  their  judgment  upon. 

"From  all  which  we  conclude,  that  our  brethren  and  we 
are  agreed  in  adhering  to  the  said  article  of  our  union,  and 
insisting  on  the  satisfaction  it  requires;  agreed  in  the  duty 
and  importance  of  using  all  appointed  warrantable  means 
for  securing  a  godly  ministry,  and  agreed  as  to  the  means 
of  obtaining  competent  satisfaction  as  to  candidates' expe- 
rimental acquaintance  with  religion,  and  what  should  sat- 
isfy a  judicature  in  this;  such  as  serious  profession,  godly 
life,  skill  to  direct  Christian  exercises  and  practice,  and  to 
speak  to  doubts  and  cases  of  conscience,  &c. ;  excepting 
that  some  insist  on  requiring  and  using  an  account  of  the 
candidate's  personal  exercises  and  experiences  in  religion, 
as  a  means  of  a  judicature's  satisfaction  and  ground  of  their 
proceedings  with  him,  which  we  disallow. 

"  So  the  case  to  be  resolved  seems  only,  whether  a  can- 
didate's declaration  of  his  own  personal  experiences  and 
exercises  in  religion,  given  in  the  way  of  narrative  of  these, 
or  in  answer  to  questions  put  to  him  concerning  them, 
should  be  required  by  a  judicature,  as  one  appointed,  war- 
rantable and  useful  means  of  forming  a  judgment  of  his 
experimental  acquaintance  with  religion,  according  to 
which  judgment  they  are  to  receive  or  reject  him."  ^ 

The  case  having  been  thus  distinctly  presented,  the  synod 
resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  and 
every  member  was  called  upon  in  order  to  express  his 
views  on  the  subject.  This  process  having  been  gone 
through  with,  the  synod  resumed  their  former  character, 
and  answered  the  question  by  deciding  that  a  declaration 
of  the  candidate's  personal  experience  should  be  required, 
as  a  proper  means  of  forming  a  judgment  of  his  experimen- 

'  Minutes,  p.  64,  65. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  397 

tal  acquaintance  with  religion.     There  were  but  thirteen 
voices  in  the  negative  and  one  non  liquet.  ^ 

This  decision  gave  rise  to  two  other  questions,  1.  Whe- 
ther the  answer  just  rendered  was  a  compliance  with  the 
plain  sense  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  plan  of  union,  so  often 
referred  to,  and  agreeable  to  the  order  in  the  Westminster 
Directory,  wherein  a  presbytery  is  directed  to  inquire  touch- 
ing the  grace  of  God  in  him,  i.  e.  in  the  candidate.  The 
second  question  was,  Whether  the  synod's  answer  was  not 
a  direct  and  open  violation  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  plan 
of  union,  by  which  both  synods  were  allowed  to  follow 
their  own  judgment  for  obtaining  competent  satisfaction  as 
to  a  candidate's  learning,  and  experimental  acquaintance 
with  religion,  "  for  it  was  well  known  to  the  synod  of  New 
York,  that  the  presbyteries  belonging  to  the  synod  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, did  not  examine  a  candidate's  experiences." 
And  in  the  seventh  article  of  the  union  it  was  agreed  "  the 
presbyteries  might  continue  to  act  separately,  as  they  had 
done;  by  which  agreement  they  confirmed  the  method  used 
by  the  synod  of  Philadelphia  in  the  licensing  of  candi- 
dates." 

In  order  to  ascertain  how  the  sixth  article  of  the  plan  of 
union  was  understood,  the  roll  was  called  for  each  member 
to  express  his  sentiments.  It  appeared  that  the  members 
of  the  late  synod  of  New  York,  that  were  at  the  making  of 
the  union,  in  general  agreed  in  understanding  the  article  so 
as  to  enjoin  such  a  declaration  of  experiences;  and  that  the 
members  of  the  late  synod  of  Philadelphia,  that  were  at  the 
making  of  the  union,  in  general  agreed  in  understanding 

1  The  number  of  votes  in  the  affirmative  is  not  stated.  It  appears  from  the 
minutes,  that  there  were  forty  ministers  and  twenty-three  elders  present  at 
this  meeting  of  the  synod.  If  all  voted  on  this  occasion,  the  result  was  54 
yeas,  13  nays,  one  non  liquet. 

34 


398  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

that  article  so  as  not  to  enjoin  such  declaration.  And  each 
declared  they  so  understood  it  at  the  time  of  making  the 
union. 

While  the  synod  were  in  great  perplexity,  and  unable  to 
accommodate  the  difficulty,  an  overture  was  presented  in 
the  name  of  the  presbytery  of  New  York,  "  who,  fearing  a 
breach  in  the  synod  on  this  question,  chose  to  be  absent, 
but  sent  the  following  proposals  to  maintain  peace  and  har- 
mony.'^    The  substance  only  of  these  proposals  is  entered 
upon  the  minutes  in  the  following  words:  ^  "  1.  That  where 
different  presbyteries  follow  different  methods  of  examin- 
ing the  qualifications  of  candidates,  they  shall  continue  to 
do  so  without  censuring  or  blaming  one  another.     2.  That 
where  the  members  of  the  same  presbytery  differ  in  their 
sentiments  respecting  the  examination  of  candidates'  expe- 
riences, it  shall  be  determined  how  they  shall  act,  by  the 
vote  of  the  majority.     3.  They  shall  desire  the  candidate 
to  declare  in  /^m  what  he  thinks  to  be  the  experience  of  a 
real  convert,  and  then  they  may  ask  him  whether  he  be- 
lieves that  he  has  experienced  this  saving  change;  or,  4.  If 
peace  cannot  be  thus  preserved,  it  is  proposed  that  minis- 
ters be  joined  together  in  presbyteries,  so  that  they  may 
peaceably  act  according  to  the  best  of  their  judgment,  and 
according  to  the  dictates  of  a  good  conscience  in  the  dis- 
charge of  this  important  part  of  their  ministerial  duty."  ^ 

The  whole  subject  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Treat,  Finley, 
and  Blair,  with  Dr.  Alison,  Messrs.  Ewing,  Alexander 
McDowell,  and  Azariah  Horton,  to  attempt  an  amicable 

'  "  The  clerk  of  the  synod,"  it  is  stated,  "  did  not  deliver  this  excellent 
paper  to  Dr.  Francis  Alison,  the  transcriber,  which  he  thinks  proper  to  ob- 
serve, and  leave  room  to  insert  it,  if  it  can  be  had  from  the  minutes  of  the 
presbytery  of  New  York  ;  but  he  gives  the  substance  of  it  from  notes  on  that 
occasion,  and  from  his  own  memory."  '^  Minutes,  p.  69. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  399 

accommodation.  This  committee  not  being  able  to  agree 
upon  any  one  overture,  reported  several,  and  the  synod, 
after  "  solemn  prayer  to  God  for  his  gracious  presence  and 
direction,"  came  to  the  following  conclusion:  "Whereas 
some  members  complain  of  two  determinations  of  this 
synod,  the  first  a  resolution  of  a  query  concerning  the  exa- 
mination of  a  candidate's  experience,  in  order  to  his  admis- 
sion or  rejection;  the  other  relating  to  the  obvious  sense  of 
the  sixth  article  of  the  plan  of  union,  apprehending  that  by 
said  determinations,  the  synod  laid  an  obligation  on  them 
to  act  according  to  the  sentiments  expressed  in  them:  Now 
to  give  relief,  and  full  satisfaction,  to  such  brethren,  the 
synod  declare  they  had  no  design  by  those  determinations 
to  lay  the  least  obligation  or  restraint  on  said  members 
with  respect  to  their  conduct,  but  only  to  express  their  own 
sense  of  the  meaning  of  that  article,  and  their  sentiments  of 
the  query;  and,  hereupon,"  it  is  added,  "the  members  de- 
clared themselves  satisfied,  and  withdrew  their  protest."  ^ 

The  synod  state  further,  that  being  "  earnestly  desirous 
that  all  due  liberty  of  conscience  be  preserved  inviolate, 
and  that  peace  and  harmony  be  maintained  and  promoted, 
they  do  agree  that  when  any  person  shall  offer  himself  as 
a  candidate  for  the  ministry  to  any  of  our  presbyteries, 
every  member  of  the  presbytery  may  use  that  way  which 
he  in  conscience  looks  upon  as  proper,  to  obtain  a  compe- 
tent satisfaction  of  the  person's  experimental  acquaintance 
with  religion,  and  then  the  presbytery,  as  a  presbytery, 
shall  determine  whether  they  will  take  him  on  further 
trials."  This  agreement,  it  is  stated,  did  not  satisfy  a  num- 
ber of  the  synod.  It  was  immediately  after  the  conclusion 
of  this  affair  that  the  synod  erected  those  members  of  the 
presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  who  disapproved  of  this  exa- 

'  Minutes,  p.  73. 


400  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

mination  into  the  personal  experience  of  the  candidate  for 
the  ministry,  into  a  presbytery  by  themselves.  On  this,  as 
on  other  occasions,  the  synod  was  saved  from  schism  by  the 
moderation  of  the  New  York  and  other  distant  members. 
The  new-side  men  of  Donegal  and  Brunswick,  as  appears 
from  their  protests,  were  unwilling  to  compromise  any  of 
these  difficulties. 

Ill  1773,  Mr.  John  Roan  introduced  the  following  over- 
ture: "  Whereas  there  have  been  repeated  complaints  from 
serious  persons,  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  presbyterian  deno- 
mination in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  of  their  falling 
ofi'  from  the  great  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  so  that  it  is 
very  possible  there  may  be  presbyteries  the  majority  of 
which  would  not  be  unwilling  to  license,  ordain,  or  recom- 
mend, ministers  unsound  in  the  faith;  it  seems  to  be  of 
moment  to  guard  against  the  admission  of  strangers  into  the 
body,  before  their  principles  and  character  are  thoroughly 
ascertained.  Therefore  it  is  overtured  that  no  presbytery 
be  permitted  to  receive  any  stranger  under  the  character  of 
minister  or  candidate,  or  to  give  him  appointments  in  the 
congregations  under  our  care  until  the  synod  that  shall 
meet  after  their  arrival,  that  the  whole  testimonials  and 
credentials  offered  by  such  persons  be  laid  before  the  synod 
to  be  by  them  considered  and  judged  of,  in  order  to  their 
admission  or  rejection."  ^  This  proposition  was  adopted 
by  a  small  majority.  It  was  afterwards  agreed  that  the 
word  stranger,  in  the  above  overture,  "  should  not  be 
extended  to  any  person  from  any  part  of  the  continent  of 
America."  ^ 

Against  the  adoption  of  this  rule  two  protests  were  en- 
tered, the  one  by  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  ^ 

1  Minutes,  p.  279.  2  Ibid.  p.  284. 

3  Signed  by  Francis  Alison,  John  Elder,  Joseph  Tate,  John  Ewing,  John 
Simonton,  and  Patrick  Alison. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  401 

and  the  other  by  Messrs.  Matthew  Wilson,  James  Latta, 
John  King,  and  James  Lang.  The  reasons  assigned  for 
each  are  nearly  the  same,  and  are  substantially  as  follows: 
1.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  presbyteries,  to  whoni 
it  belongs  to  ordain  and  admit  ministers.  If  they  err  in  the 
exercise  of  their  powers  they  are  accountable  to  higher 
judicatories;  but  they  are  not  to  be  deprived  of  those 
powers  merely  because  they  may  err.  2.  It  rests  upon  the 
suspicion  that  presbyteries  are  unfaithful,  and  are  not  to  be 
trusted  in  the  matter.  3.  It  is  uncharitable  and  unjust 
towards  the  foreign  churches;  "as  if  all  the  reformed 
churches  solemnly  subscribing  or  assenting  to  the  same 
Confession  of  Faith,  the  same  Catechisms,  and  the  same 
Directory,  or  plan  of  discipline  and  government,  were 
wholly  corrupted  in  faith  or  practice,  notwithstanding  their 
solemn  assent  and  subscription  to  the  form  of  sound  doc- 
trine." 4.  It  is  unfriendly  to  the  ministers  who  come 
among  us,  and  tends  to  lead  them  to  form  presbyteries  inde- 
pendent of  the  synod.  5.  It  sets  a  bad  precedent,  as  on 
similar  plausible  pretexts  the  synod  might  take  away  all 
the  rights  of  the  presbyteries.  6.  It  is  unnecessary,  as  we 
have  rules  which  long  experience  proves  to  be  sufficient. 
7.  It  tends  to  produce  contention  and  schism;  for  if  the 
synod  assumes  such  unscriptural  powers,  some  of  the  pres- 
byteries may  be  expected  to  withdraw  from  a  body  which 
they  consider  tyranical.  S.  Because  the  explanatory  clause 
added  in  order  to  exempt  all  ministers  coming  from  any 
part  of  America,  seems  to  be  a  mere  subterfuge  and  equi- 
vocation. In  the  agreements  made  in  1764  and  1765, 
which  had  the  same  object  with  this  new  law,  the  New 
England  churches  were  expressly  mentioned,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  debates  upon  this  overture  they  were  repeat- 
edly referred  to,  and  nothing  was  said  or  even  insinuated 

34* 


402  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

to  intimate  that  they  were  to  be  excluded  from  its  opera- 
tion. And,  therefore,  now  to  say  that  they  were  not 
intended,  merely  to  relieve  "a  few  members  of  the  synod," 
or,  (as  it  said  in  the  other  protest,)  "  some  dissenting  bre- 
thren" does  not  appear  to  be  candid.  ^ 

The  above  statement  shows  how  completely  the  tables 
were  now  turned.  These  protests  contain  nearly  the  same 
reasons  as  those  formerly  urged  by  the  New  Brunswick 
presbytery  against  the  act  of  which  Dr.  Alison  and  his 
friends  were  the  strenuous  supporters.  And  it  must  be 
admitted  that  they  stand  very  much  on  the  same  ground. 
If  the  presbyteries  in  synod  assembled,  had  a  right  to  agree 
that  they  would  not  ordain  any  man  without  a  college 
diploma  or  synodical  certificate;  they  had  a  right  to  agree 
that  foreign  ministers  and  candidates  should  be  subjected  to 
the  proposed  probation. 

In  reply  to  these  protests  the  synod  say,  that  neither  the 
overture  itself  nor  the  synod's  judgment  on  it,  includes  any 
claim  of  power  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  presbyteries; 
that  the  power  of  licensure  and  ordination  is  not  so  much 
as  named  in  either,  and  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  the 
protesters  to  prove  that  the  right  to  admit  persons  already 
licensed  or  ordained,  belonged  exclusively  to  the  presby- 
teries. They  deny  that  the  rule  in  question  was  founded 
upon  any  want  of  confidence  in  their  own  presbyteries,  or 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  ministry  in  Britain  and  Ire- 
land were  wholly  corrupt,  but  only  that  there  was  such  a 
degeneracy  among  them  as  rendered  caution  on  our  part 
peculiarly  necessary,  and  that  no  presbytery  could  have  the 

'  Besides  the  ministers  who  signed  these  protests,  Dr.  Rodgers,  Joseph 
Montgomery,  Alexander  McWhorter,  John  Miller,  Alexander  McDowell, 
James  Anderson,  Thomas  Read,  and  James  Caldwell,  dissented  from  the 
decision  by  which  Mr.  Roan's  overture  was  adopted. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  403 

same  means  of  information  respecting  those  foreign  minis- 
ters as  the  whole  synod  had.  They  further  state,  as  the 
overture  only  held  up  to  view  the  churches  of  Britain  and 
Ireland,  it  is  most  unfair  to  infer  that  the  explanatory  clause 
annexed  to  the  judgment,  "  seemed  to  be  a  mere  subterfuge 
and  equivocation,  and  calculated  to  relieve  only  a  few 
members  of  the  synod."  ^ 

Dr.  Rodgers  then  moved  that  the  operation  of  the  above 
rule  should  be  suspended  until  next  year.  This  motion  was 
subsequently  withdrawn,  and  the  following  adopted  in  its 
stead.  "  Whereas  many  brethren  are  dissatisfied  with  the 
act  of  synod  respecting  the  non-admission  of  ministers  and 
candidates  from  foreign  parts,  it  is  proposed  that  the  pres- 
bytery to  which  any  such  gentlemen  may  offer  themselves, 
may  be  allowed,  if  they  see  their  way  clear,  to  employ  them 
in  their  vacancies,  but  that  they  be  not  admitted  to  full 
membership  until  the  next  synod,  when  their  testimonials 
and  recommendations  shall  be  laid  before  the  synod."  This 
proposition  being  agreed  to,  the  presbyteries  were  directed 
to  regulate  themselves  accordingly.  ^ 

The  following  year,  1774,  this  act  was  repealed,  and  the 
following  adopted,  by  an  unanimous  vote,  in  its  stead: 
"  Whereas  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  interests  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  that  the  greatest  care  should  be 
observed  by  church  judicatures  to  maintain  orthodoxy  in 
doctrine  and  purity  in  practice  in  all  their  members,  this 
synod,  in  addition  to  the  agreement  on  this  head,  of  the 
year  1764,  and  further  explained  in  1765,  do  most  ear- 
nestly recommend  it  to  all  the  presbyteries,  to  be  very  strict 
and  careful  respecting  these  matters,  especially  in  exa- 
mining the  certificates  or  testimonials  of  ministers  or  pro- 

•  Minutes,  p.  283.  2  Ibid.  p.  287. 


404  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

bationers  who  come  from  foreign  churches;  and  that  they 
be  cautious  about  receiving  them  unless  the  authenticity  of 
their  certificates  and  testimonials  be  supported  by  private 
letters  or  other  credible  or  sufficient  evidence.  And  in 
order  the  more  effectually  to  preserve  this  synod,  our  pres- 
byteries and  congregations  from  imposition  and  abuse,  every 
year  when  any  presbytery  may  report  that  they  have  re- 
ceived any  minister  or  probationer  from  foreign  churches, 
that  presbytery  shall  lay  before  the  synod  the  testimonials 
and  all  other  certificates  upon  which  they  received  such 
minister  or  probationer,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  synod 
before  such  foreign  ministers  or  probationers  shall  be  en- 
rolled as  members  of  our  body;  and  if  the  synod  shall  find 
said  testimonials  false  or  insufficient,  the  whole  proceeding 
had  by  the  presbytery  in  the  admission,  shall  be  held  to  be 
void;  and  the  presbytery  shall  not  from  that  time  receive 
and  acknowledge  him  as  a  member  of  this  body  or  in 
ministerial  communion  with  us.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
whensoever  any  gentlemen  from  abroad  shall  come  duly 
recommended  as  above,  we  will  gladly  receive  them  as 
brethren,  and  give  them  every  encouragement  in  our 
power."  ^  The  difference  between  this  and  the  former  rule 
was,  that  the  one  forbad  the  presbyteries  to  receive  a 
foreign  minister  at  all  until  he  had  been  approved  by  the 
synod ;  the  other  allowed  them  to  receive  them  subject  to  that 
approbation.  In  case,  however,  the  synod  was  dissatisfied, 
no  act  of  the  presbytery  was  required  to  dissolve  the  con- 
nexion between  the  new  member  and  the  presbytery  or 
synod.  The  whole  presbyterial  proceeding  was  set  aside 
as  void.  It  will  appear  in  the  sequel  that  members  ad- 
mitted by  the  presbyteries,  were,  at  times,  thus  rejected  by 
the   synod.     This  latter  act,  though   passed  unanimously, 

>  Minutes,  p.  299. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  405 

seems  as  much  open  to  the  objection  of  mterfering  with  the 
rights  of  presbyteries  as  the  former. 

The  propriety  of  ordaining  ministers,  shie  titulo,  was 
early  brought  under  the  consideration  of  the  synod.  In 
1763,  this  subject  was  referred  to  the  several  presbyteries, 
that  their  members  might  be  prepared  to  discuss  it  at  the 
next  meeting.  Accordingly  the  following  year,  after  the 
presbyteries  had  delivered  their  sentiments  on  the  subject, 
and  QVQrj  member  had  been  called  upon  to  speak,  the  synod 
came  to  the  following  conclusion:  "That  in  ordinary  cases, 
where  churches  are  properly  regulated  and  organized,  it  is 
a  practice  highly  inexpedient,  and  of  dangerous  conse- 
quences, not  to  be  allowed  in  our  body,  except  in  some 
special  cases,  as  missions  to  the  Indians,  and  some  distant 
places  that  regularly  apply  for  ministers.  But  as  the  honour 
and  reputation  of  the  synod  are  much  interested  in  the  con- 
duct of  presbyteries  in  such  special  cases,  it  is  judged  that 
they  should  previously  apply  to  the  synod,  and  take  their 
advice  therein;  unless  the  cases  require  such  haste  as 
would  necessarily  prevent  the  benefit  of  such  mission  if 
delayed  until  the  next  session  of  synod;  in  which  cases  the 
presbyteries  shall  report  to  the  next  synod  the  state  of  the 
case,  and  the  reasons  of  their  conduct."  ^ 

Agreeably  to  this  rule  the  presbyteries  were  in  the  habit 
of  applying  to  the  synod  for  permission  before  they  pro- 
ceeded to  such  ordinations.  Thus  in  1766,  "  Suflblk  pres- 
bytery desired  leave  to  ordain  two  candidates,  Mr.  Elam 
Potter  and  Mr.  Isaac  Lewis,  sine  titulo,  in  order  to  their 
being  sent  to  the  southward,  which  was  granted."  2  j^ 
appears,  however,  that  in  this  presbytery  there  was  some 
diversity  of  opinion  on  this  subject,  as  in  1771,  a  letter  was 
received  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Prime,  "signifying  the  difficulty 
'  Minutes,  p.  103.  2  ibij.  p.  147. 


406  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

which  he  and  some  of  his  brethren  laboured  under,  on 
account  of  an  order  of  synod  respecting  the  ordination  of 
ministers  siiie  tilulo,  and  requesting  some  relief  in  that 
matter."  In  their  answer  the  synod  say,  that  it  appears 
that  Mr.  Prime,  and  the  brethren  in  whose  name  he  wrote, 
agreed  with  the  synod  as  to  the  necessity  of  being  satisfied 
with  the  piety,  learning,  prudence,  and  aptness  to  teach,  of 
those  sent  forth  to  labour  in  Christ's  vineyard;  and  that 
they  further  agreed  with  the  synod  as  to  the  propriety  of 
making  trial  of  candidates  by  hearing  them  preach  and 
expound  the  Scriptures  before  ordination.  The  synod  add, 
that  they  "are  firmly  persuaded,  that  our  method  of  licens- 
ing them  to  preach  by  way  of  probation  for  the  gospel 
ministry  before  ordination,  is  founded  on  general  directions 
given  by  the  apostles,  that  we  should  lay  hands  suddenly 
on  no  man,  but  should  commit  this  charge  to  faithful  men 
who  are  known  to  be  able  to  teach  others.  But  as  Mr. 
Prime,  and  the  brethren  in  whose  name  he  writes,  appear 
to  differ  from  this  synod  only  in  the  mode  of  making  these 
necessary  trials  before  ordination;  the  synod,  after  serious 
consideration  of  their  request,  which  they  are  persuaded  is 
made  from  a  conscientious  regard  to  what  they  think  their 
duty,  have  agreed  to  lay  no  burden  on  them,  or  on  those 
young  men  whose  consciences  will  not  allow  them  to  preach 
the  gospel  without  ordination,  and  therefore,  though  the 
synod  cannot  repeal  the  act  referred  to  in  the  above  letter 
respecting  the  ordaining  ministers,  sine  titulo,  as  they  judge 
it  still  expedient  and  useful,  yet  they  allow  the  presbytery 
to  ordain  those  gentlemen  referred  to  by  Mr.  Prime  in  his 
letter,  in  case  they  shall  be  found  on  trial  to  be  qualified 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  not  doubting  but  they  will 
take  due  care  on  this  important  head."  * 

'  Minutes,  p.  132,  3. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  407 

The  same  year  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  were 
directed  to  ordain  Mr.  Schenck  sine  titulo,  in  order  to  his 
going  on  a  mission,  provided  they  saw  their  way  clear.  ^ 
In  1776,  the  first  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  applied  to 
synod  for  their  concurrence  in  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Keith 
si7ie  titulo,  provided  he  consented  to  go  as  a  missionary  to 
Kentucky.  ^  In  1778,  the  presbytery  of  New  York  report- 
ed that  they  had  ordained  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  Dodd  sine 
titulo,  "  in  consequence  of  liberty  obtained  from  the  synod 
for  that  purpose."^  In  1781,  the  synod  " authorized  the 
first  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  to  proceed"  to  a  similar 
ordination.''  In  1781,  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  applied 
for  liberty  to  ordain  Mr.  Daniel  Jones  sine  titulo,  which 
was  granted.  *  A  similar  request  was  made  in  1782,  by 
the  presbytery  of  Orange;  and  in  1785,  by  the  presbytery 
of  Newcastle,  both  of  which  were  granted.  ^ 

Questions  connected  with  the  subject  of  psalmody  were 
repeatedly  presented  to  the  synod.  In  1763,  a  question 
was  introduced  in  these  words:  "As  sundry  members  and 
congregations  within  the  bounds  of  our  synod  judge  it  most 
for  edification  to  sing  Dr.  Watts'  imitation  of  David's 
Psalms,  do  the  synod  so  far  approve  said  imitation  as  to 
allow  such  ministers  and  congregations  the  liberty  of  using 
it?"  The  synod  answered,  that  as  many  of  their  body  had 
never  particularly  examined  the  book  in  question,  they 
were  not  prepared  to  answer  the  question;  but  as  it  was 
approved  by  many  members  of  the  synod,  they  had  no 
objection  to  its  use  until  the  matter  of  psalmody  be  further 
considered.  And  it  was  recommended  to  the  members  to 
examine  the  subject,  and  to  come  prepared  the  next  year  to 

1  Minutes,  p.  238.  2  Ibid.  p.  338.  3  Ibid.  p.  352. 

^  Ibid.  p.  371.  5  Ibid.  p.  379.  «  Ibid.  p.  386,  and  424. 


408  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

give  their  views  upon  it.  ^  In  1764,  the  matter  was  again 
postponed;  and  in  1765,  it  was- referred  to  Dr.  Finley  and 
Mr.  M'Dowell,  who  made  the  following  report  upon  it, 
which  was  adopted.  "  The  synod  judge  it  best,  in  present 
circumstances,  only  to  declare  that  they  look  on  the  in- 
spired Psalms  in  Scripture  to  be  proper  matter  to  be  sung 
in  divine  worship,  according  to  their  original  design,  and 
the  practice  of  the  Christian  churches;  yet  will  not  forbid 
those  to  use  the  imitation  of  them,  whose  judgment  and 
inclination  lead  them  so  to  do."  ^ 

In  1773,  the  subject  was  again  brought  up  by  an  appeal 
entered  by  certain  members  of  the  second  presbyterian 
church  in  Philadelphia,  from  a  decision  of  their  presbytery. 
After  the  several  parties  had  been  heard,  the  synod  de- 
clared that  though  the  judgment  of  the  presbytery  seemed 
to  be  drawn  up  with  great  caution  and  tenderness,  they  did 
not  think  it  proper  finally  to  decide  upon  it  at  that  time, 
but  appointed  Dr.  Witherspoon,  Dr.  Rodgers,  Mr.  Strain, 
and  Mr.  McWhorter,  a  committee  to  converse  with  the 
parties  in  the  congregation  who  differed  about  psalmody, 
and  to  make  a  report  to  the  synod.  This  committee  report- 
ed, that  the  synod  ought  not  to  judge  the  merits  of  the 
appeal,  so  as  to  affirm  or  disapprove  the  several  proposi- 
tions laid  down  by  the  presbytery;  and  as  there  was  not 
time  then  to  consider  the  several  versions  of  the  Psalms  in 
question,  and  as  congregations  had  been  allowed  to  settle 
this  matter  according  to  their  own  choice,  the  synod  ought 
not  to  make  any  order  to  forbid  the  practice  now  begun, 
but  should  exhort  the  different  parties  to  moderation  and 
peace.     This  report  was  adopted.^ 

In  1785,  the  following  overture  was  presented  to  the 

1  Minutes,  p.  92.  2  Ibid.  p.  118.  ^  ibid.  p.  287.  289. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  4()9 

synod:  "Whereas  the  nearest  uniformity  that  is  practica- 
ble in  the  external  modes  of  divine  worship  is  to  be  desired, 
and  the  using  different  books  of  psahnody  is  matter  of 
offence  not  only  to  presbyterians  of  different  denominations, 
but  also  to  many  congregations  under  our  care;  it  is  que- 
ried, whether  the  synod  may  not  choose  out,  and  order 
some  of  their  number  to  take  the  assistance  of  all  the  ver- 
sions in  our  power,  and  compose  for  us  a  version  more 
suitable  to  our  circumstances  and  our  taste  than  any  we 
yet  have."  The  proposition  involved  in  this  query  hav- 
ing been  assented  to,  the  synod  appointed  Dr.  Patrick  Ali- 
son, Dr.  Davidson,  Dr.  Ewing,  Mr.  Blair,  and  Mr.  Ewing, 
to  make  the  proposed  selection.  '  The  following  year  this 
committee  reported  progress  and  was  continued;  and,  in 
1787,  the  synod  adopted  the  following  resolution:  "The 
synod  did  allow,  and  do  hereby  allow,  that  Dr.  Watts'  imi- 
tation of  David's  Psalms,  as  revised  by  Mr.  Barlow,  be 
used  in  the  churches  and  families  under  their  care." 

Questions  of  conscience,  relating  to  marriage,  gave  the 
synod  no  little  trouble.  At  their  first  meeting  they  were 
called  upon  to  decide,  whether  a  man  who  had  married  his 
half-brother's  widow,  might  lawfully  live  with  her  as  his 
wife.  It  was  deferred  from  year  to  year  until  1761.  In 
the  mean  time  another  question  had  arisen,  viz.  whether  a 
man  could  lawfully  marry  the  sister  of  his  deceased  wife? 
With  regard  to  this  latter  case  the  synod,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, adopted  the  following  minute:  "Though  the  majo- 
rity of  the  synod  think  that  the  marriage  is  incestuous,  and 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  the  land,  and  agree  that  it 
IS  sinful,  and  of  dangerous  tendency;  yet,  inasmuch  as 
some  learned  men  are  not  so  clear  in  this  point,  it  is  agreed 
to  resume  the  consideration  hereof  the  next  year."^  Accord- 

'  Minutes,  p.  430.  2  ibid.  p.  36. 

35 


410  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

ingly,  in  1761,  they  included  the  two  cases  in  the  following 
decision:  "That,  as  the  Levitical  law, enforced  by  the  civil 
laws  of  the  land,  is  the  only  rule  whereby  we  are  to  judge 
of  marriages,  whoever  marry  within  the  degrees  of  consan- 
guinity or  affinity  forbidden  therein,  act  unlawfully,  and 
have  no  right  to  the  distinguishing  privileges  of  the  church; 
and  as  the  marriages  in  question  appear  to  be  within  the 
prohibited  degrees,  they  are  to  be  accounted  unlawful,  and 
the  persons  suspended  from  special  communion,  while  they 
continue  in  this  relation."  ^ 

The  synod,  however,  did  not  abide  by  the  above  deci- 
sion. In  1779,  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  referred  the 
case  of  a  man  who  had  married  the  sister  of  his  former 
wife,  with  the  query,  whether  he  could  properly  be  admit- 
ted to  church  privileges?  As  the  synod  deferred  from  year 
to  year  answering  the  question,  the  person  interested  pre- 
sented, in  1782,  a  petition  that  he  might  no  longer  be  de- 
barred from  the  privileges  of  the  church  on  account  of  his 
marriage.  And  after  full  and  deliberate  discussion,  the 
question  was  put,  Shall  Anthony  Diichane  and  his  wife  be 
capable  of  Christian  privileges,  their  marriage  notwith- 
standing? which  was  carried  in  the  affirmative  by  a  consi- 
derable majority.  Against  this  decision  the  Rev.  James 
Finley  and  Robert  Cooper  protested;  and  Alexander  Millet, 
John  King,  John  Creaghead,  Colin  McFarquhar,  and  James 
Power  dissented.  ^ 

The  following  year  remonstrances  were  sent  in  from 
several  congregations,  requesting  the  synod  to  reverse  the 
above  judgment.  The  synod  accordingly  resumed  the  case, 
and,  "declared  their  dissatisfaction  with  all  such  marriages 
as  are  inconsistent  with  the  Levitical  law,  and  that  persons 
marrying  within  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  prohibited  in 

»  Minutes,  p.  53.  2  Ibid.  p.  387. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  411 

that  law  ought  to  suffer  the  censures  of  the  church-,  and 
they  further  judged,  that  although  the  marriage  of  a  man 
to  two  sisters  successively,  viz.  to  one  after  the  death  of 
the  other,  may  not  be  a  direct  violation  of  the  express 
words  of  that  law,  yet  as  it  is  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the 
protestant  churches  in  general,  and  an  evidence  of  great 
untenderness  towards  many  serious  and  well  disposed 
Christians,  and  may,  through  the  prejudices  or  generally 
received  opinions  of  the  members  of  our  church,  be  pro- 
ductive of  very  disagreeable  consequences,  the  persons  con- 
tracting such  marriages  are  highly  censurable,  and  the 
practice  ought  to  be  disallowed  in  express  terms  by  the 
synod;  and  we  do,  therefore,  condemn  such  marriages  as 
imprudent  and  unseasonable.  Yet  as  some  things  may  be 
done  very  imprudently  and  unseasonably,  which  when 
done  ought  not  to  be  annulled,  we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is 
not  necessary  for  the  persons  whom  this  judgment  respects 
to  separate  from  one  another;  yet  they  should  not  be 
received  into  the  communion  of  the  church,  without  a 
solemn  admonition  at  the  discretion  of  the  congregation  to 
which  they  belong.  And  the  synod  publicly  recommend  it 
to  all  their  members  to  abstain  from  celebrating  such  mar- 
riages, and  to  discountenance  them  by  all  the  proper  means 
in  their  power."  ^  The  Rev.  James  Finley  entered  his  dis- 
sent from  this  judgment,  as  being  substantially  the  same  as 
that  rendered  the  year  before. 

In  1760,  llie  case  where  "a  brother's  and  sister's  relicts 
had  married  together,"  was  considered,  and  the  synod 
decided,  "  That  however  inexpedient  such  a  marriage  may 
be,  yet  as  we  can  not  find  it  prohibited  by  the  Levitical 
law,  it  is  not  to  be  condemned  as  incestuous."  ^ 

The  first  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  1770,  referred  to 

1  Minutes,  p.  397.  2  Jbid.  p.  31  and  36. 


412  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

the  synod  for  their  decision  the  question,  whether  a  man  may 
lawfully  marry  his  wife's  brother's  daughter?  The  question 
was  not  answered  until  1772.  when  the  following  minute 
was  adopted  in  relation  to  it.  "  After  mature  deliberation, 
the  synod  declare  their  great  dissatisfaction  with  all  such 
marriages  as  are  inconsistent  with  the  Levitical  law,  which 
in  cases  matrimonial,  we  understand  to  be  the  law  of  our 
nation;  and  that  persons  intermarrying  in  these  prohibited 
degrees,  are  not  only  punishable  by  the  laws  of  the  country, 
but  ought  to  suffer  the  censures  of  the  church.  And  further 
judge  that  though  the  present  case  is  not  a  direct  violation 
of  the  express  words  of  the  Levitical  law,  yet  as  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  custom  of  protestant  nations  in  general,  and  an 
evidence  of  great  untenderness,  and  so  opposite  to  such 
precepts  of  the  gospel  as  require  Christians  to  avoid  things 
of  ill  report,  and  all  appearance  of  evil,  and  what  is  offen- 
sive to  the  church,  that  the  persons  referred  to  in  this 
instance  ought  to  be  rebuked  by  the  church  session,  and 
others  warned  against  such  offensive  conduct.  And  in  case 
these  persons  submit  to  such  rebuke,  and  are  in  other 
respects  regular  professors,  that  they  be  not  debarred 
Christian  privileges."  ^ 

In  1785,  the  following  question  was  referred  to  the  synod 
by  the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  viz:  "Whether  on  full  proof 
of  adultery  by  one  party,  the  presbytery  has  a  right  to 
declare  the  marriage  so  far  void,  as  that  the  innocent  party 
may  marry  again  without  being  liable  to  church  censure?" 
This  question  was  decided  in  the  afHrmative  by  a  small 
majority.  ^ 

In  1786,  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  presented  as  a  case  of 
conscience  the  following  question:  Whether  Christian  mas- 
ters or  mistresses  ought  in  duty  to  have  such  children  bap- 
>  Minutes,  p.  254.  2  ibid.  p.  421. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  413 

tized  as  are  under  their  care,  though  born  of  parents  not  in 
communion  with  any  Christian  church?  To  this  it  was 
answered,  that  the  synod  are  of  opinion  that  Christian  mas- 
ters and  mistresses,  whose  professions  and  conduct  are  such 
as  to  give  them  a  right  to  the  ordinance  of  baptism  for  their 
own  children,  may  and  ought  to  dedicate  the  children  of 
their  household  to  God  in  that  ordinance,  when  they  have 
no  scruple  of  conscience  to  the  contrary. 

A  second  question  was :  Whether  Christian  slaves  having 
children  at  the  entire  direction  of  unchristian  masters,  and 
not  having  it  in  their  power  to  instruct  them  in  religion, 
are  bound  to  have  them  baptized?  and  whether  a  gospel 
minister  in  such  circumstances  ought  to  baptize  them?  The 
synod  answered  both  questions  in  the  affirmative. 

Under  this  head  of  general  regulations,  may  be  properly 
introduced,  a  plan,  originally  proposed  by  certain  elders 
in  Philadelphia,  and  which,  having  been  sanctioned  by  the 
synod,  was  repeatedly  urged  upon  the  churches  and  pres- 
byteries under  the  name  of  the  plan  of  the  lay  elders.  It 
proposed, 

"  1.  That  in  every  congregation  a  committee  be  appointed, 
who  shall  twice  in  every  year  collect  the  minister's  stipend, 
and  lay  his  receipts  before  the  presbytery  preceding  the 
sj'nod:  and  that  ministers  at  the  same  time  give  an  account 
of  their  diligence  in  visiting  and  catechising  their  people. 

"  2.  The  synod  recommends  that  a  glebe,  with  a  conve- 
nient house  and  necessary  improvements  be  provided  for 
every  minister. 

"  3.  That  the  church  sessions  and  committees  appointed, 
take  special  care  of  their  poor  or  distressed  widows  and  or- 
phans, and  administer  all  the  relief  and  assistance  they  can. 
"  4.  The  synod  recommends  to  the  church  sessions  and 
committees  aforesaid,  that  they  endeavour  to  prevent  all 

35* 


414  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

unnecessary  lawsuits;   and  if  possible,  to  have  all  diffe- 
rences of  a  civil  nature  decided  by  arbitration. 

"5.  The  synod  enjoin  that  exact  registers  of  births,  bap- 
tisms, marriages,  and  deaths,  be  regularly  kept  in  each 
congregation. 

"  6.  That  special  care  be  taken  of  the  principles  and  cha- 
racter of  school-masters,  that  they  teach  the  Westminster 
Catechism  and  psalmody,  and  that  the  ministers,  church 
sessions,  and  aforesaid  committees,  (where  they  consistently 
can,)  visit  the  schools,  and  see  these  things  be  done.  And 
where  schools  are  composed  of  ditlerent  denominations, 
that  said  committees  and  sessions  invite  proper  persons  of 
said  denominations,  to  join  with  them  in  such  visitations. 

"7.  That  as  the  too  great  use  of  spirituous  liquors  at 
funerals,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  is  risen  to  such  a 
height  as  greatly  to  endanger  the  morals  of  many,  and  is 
the  cause  of  much  scandal,  the  synod  earnestly  enjoin  that 
the  several  sessions  and  committees  shall  take  the  most 
effectual  methods  to  correct  these  mischiefs,  and  discoun- 
tenance by  their  example  and  influence,  all  approaches  to 
said  practices,  and  all  ostentatious  and  expensive  parade, 
so  inconsistent  with  such  mortifying  and  distressing  occa- 
sions." ^ 

This  plan  was  proposed  in  1766,  and  adopted  in  1767; 
and  the  clerk  was  directed  to  send  a  copy  to  the  moderator 
of  each  presbytery,  to  be  communicated  to  the  people,  and 
the  presbyteries  were  directed  to  take  all  proper  means  to 
carry  it  into  execution.  And  year  after  year  inquiry  was 
made  how  far  the  business  had  been  attended  to. 

To  this  head  also  belongs  an  overture  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  presented  to  the  synod  in  17S7.  It  was  in  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "The  Creator  of  the  world  having  made  of 

»  Minutes,  pp.  142  and  164. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  415 

one  blood  all  the  chiklren  of  men,  it  becomes  them  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  family  to  consult  and  promote  each  other's 
happiness.  It  is  more  especially  the  duty  of  those  who 
maintain  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  teach  the  obligations 
of  Christianity,  to  use  such  means  as  are  in  their  power  to 
extend  the  blessings  of  equal  freedom  to  every  part  of  the 
human  race. 

"  From  a  full  conviction  of  these  truths,  and  sensible  that 
the  rights  of  human  nature  are  too  well  understood  to  admit 
of  debate;  overtured  that  the  synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  recommend,  in  the  warmest  terms  to  every 
member  of  their  body,  and  to  all  the  families  and  churches 
under  their  care,  to  do  every  thing  in  their  power,  consistent 
with  the  rights  of  civil  society,  to  promote  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  and  the  instruction  of  negroes  whether  bond  or 
free." 

On  this  overture  the  synod  passed  the  following  judg- 
ment. "The  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  do  highly 
approve  of  the  general  principles  iin  favour  of  universal 
liberty  which  prevail  in  America,  and  the  interest  which 
many  of  the  states  have  taken  in  promoting  the  abolition  of 
slavery:  Yet  inasmuch  as  men  introduced  from  a  servile 
state  to  a  participation  of  all  the  privileges  of  civil  society, 
without  a  proper  education,  and  without  previous  habits  of 
industry,  may  be  in  many  respects  dangerous  to  the  com- 
munity; therefore  they  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  the 
members  belonging  to  their  communion,  to  give  those  per- 
sons who  are  at  present  held  in  servitude,  such  good  educa- 
tion as  to  prepare  them  for  the  better  enjoyment  of  freedom. 
And  they  moreover  recommend  that  masters,  whenever  they 
find  servants  disposed  to  make  a  just  improvement  of  the 
privilege,  would  give  them  a  peculium,  or  grant  them  time 
and  sufficient  means  of  procuring  their  own  liberty  at  a 


416  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

moderate  rate;  that  thereby  they  may  be  brought  into 
society  with  those  habits  of  industry  that  may  render  them 
useful  citizens.  And  finally  they  recommend  it  to  all  their 
people  to  use  the  most  prudent  measures  consistent  with 
the  interests  and  the  state  of  civil  society,  in  the  countries 
where  they  live,  to  procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of 
slavery  in  America." 

GENERAL    SUPERVISION. 

The  synod  exercised  a  general  supervision  over  their  mem- 
bers and  presbyteries,  designed  to  secure  adherence  to  the 
rules  of  the  church,  and  the  proper  discharge  of  ecclesiastical 
duties.  The  nature  of  this  supervision  may  be  inferred 
from  the  few  following  illustrations.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Leo- 
nard having  absented  himself  for  several  years  from  the 
meetings  of  synod,  a  letter  was  written  to  inform  him,  that 
unless  he  either  attended,  or  gave  satisfactory  reasons  for 
his  absence,  he  should  be  disowned  as  a  member.  ^  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Bay,  having  removed  from  the  bounds  of  the 
presbytery  of  Newcastle,  to  within  those  of  the  presbytery 
of  Dutchess,  without  transferring  his  presbyterial  relation, 
the  presbytery  of  Dutchess  were  directed  to  call  upon  him 
to  procure  a  regular  dismission  from  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, and  to  connect  himself  with  their  body.  ^  In  1773, 
the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  received  the  Rev. 
Hugh  Magill,  who  had  been  suspended  from  the  ministry 
in  Ireland  by  the  Associate  presbytery  of  which  he  was  a 
member.  The  synod  thinking  that  the  Philadelphia  pres- 
bytery had  not  sufficient  evidence  of  the  grounds  of  his 
suspension  to  authorize  them  to  disregard  it,  or  sufficient 
testimonials  in  favour  of  the  applicant,  reversed  the  judg- 

1  Minutes,  pp.  44  and  77.  2  ibid.  p.  214. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  417 

ment  by  which  he  was  received,  and  refused  to  recognise 
him  as  a  member,  ^  This  gentleman  afterwards  satisfied 
the  sjmod  of  his  good  character  and  was  regularly  received.  ^ 
The  same  year  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  reported  that 
they  had  received  the  Rev.  Messrs.  David  McCuer  and 
Levi  Frisby;  but  as  it  appeared  that  they  were  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  board  of  correspondents  from  the  society  in 
Scotland,  and  appointed  to  an  Indian  mission,  and  had  not 
been  dismissed  from  the  ecclesiastical  council  by  which 
they  were  ordained  in  New  England,  (and  which  probably 
ceased  to  exist  as  soon  as  the  ordination  was  effected,)  the 
synod  reversed  the  judgment  of  the  presbytery  receiving 
them  to  full  membership,  but  approved  of  their  taking  them 
under  their  care  while  they  were  labouring  occasionally 
within  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery.  - 

In  1783,  the  presbytery  of  New  York  reported  that  they 
had  left  the  name  of  the  Rev.  William  Woodhull  out  of 
their  list  of  members,  because,  on  account  of  feeble  health, 
he  had  relinquished  his  ministerial  duties.  The  synod 
deeming  this  reason  to  be  insufficient,  directed  his  name  to 
be  restored  to  the  roll.  A  similar  case  was  brought  up  in 
1785.  The  presbytery  of  Newcastle  reported  that  as  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Montgomery,  from  bodily  indisposition,  was 
unable  to  preach,  and  had  accepted  an  office  under  the  civil 
authority,  they  had  struck  his  name  from  their  roll.  The 
synod  disapproved  of  the  omission  of  the  name,  and  recom- 
mended "to  all  presbyteries,  when  any  ministers  under 
their  inspection  resigned  their  charge,  or  discontinued  the 
exercise  of  their  office,  while  they  remain  in  the  same 
bounds,  to  pass  a  regular  judgment  on  the  reasons  given 
for  such  conduct;  and  to  continue  their  inspection  of  those 
who  shall  not  have  deserved  to  be  deprived  of  the  minis- 
»  Minutes,  pp.  271.  318.  338.  2  ibid.  p.  271. 


418  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

terial  character,  though  they  may  be  laid  aside  from  imme- 
diate usefuhiess."  ^ 


APPELLATE    JURISDICTION. 

The  synod,  as  the  highest  judicatory  in  the  church,  was 
frequently  called  upon  to  decide  references,  complaints,  or 
appeals  from  the  lower  courts.  Some  of  these  cases  are 
interesting  as  matters  of  history,  or  instructive  on  account 
of  the  principles  which  they  involve.  In  1759,  the  presby- 
tery of  Philadelphia  referred  to  the  synod  the  decision  of  a 
question  relating  to  a  call  from  the  first  presbyterian  church 
in  that  city,  for  the  Rev.  Harry  Munro.  The  synod,  after 
due  consideration,  decided  that  although  some  confusion 
had  attended  the  vote  of  the  congregation  in  relation  to 
this  matter,  yet,  as  the  great  majority  of  the  people  were  in 
favour  of  the  call,  the  vote  ought  to  be  considered  so  far 
legal,  that  the  presbytery  be  allowed  to  present  it  to  Mr. 
Munro.  The  synod,  however,  expressed  great  disapproba- 
tion of  the  insulting  and  injurious  manner  in  which  they 
had  been  treated  by  some  of  the  persons  prosecuting  the 
call,  and  exhorted  the  minority  of  the  congregation  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  wishes  of  the  majority,  ^  It  does  not  appear 
that  this  call  was  ever  prosecuted  any  further. 

In  1763,  an  appeal  was  presented  by  the  second  church 
in  Philadelphia,  from  a  decision  of  the  presbytery  of  Done- 
gal respecting  the  removal  of  Mr.  Dufheld.  The  synod 
finding  that  the  congregations  of  Carlisle  and  Big  Spring, 
of  which  Mr.  Duffield  was  then  the  pastor,  had  not  had  due 
notice  in  the  case,  remitted  the  affair  to  the  presbytery; 
directing  them  to  meet  at  CarUsle  upon  a  given  day,  and 
decide  the  matter.  ^     As  all  parties  acquiesced  in  the  deci- 

1  Minutes,  p.  415.  421.  "-  Ibid.  p.  20,  22.  ^  ibid.  p.  92. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  4J9 

sion  of  the  presbytery,  the  case  was  not  again  brought  be- 
fore the  synod.  A  few  years  afterwards  this  same  congre- 
gation appealed  from  a  decision  of  the  presbytery  of  Suf- 
folk, unfavourable  to  the  removal  of  Mr.  Mills  from  Jamaica 
to  Philadelphia.  After  hearing  all  the  parties,  the  synod 
affirmed  the  decision  of  the  presbytery.  ^ 

In  1765,  the  people  of  Newcastle  and  Christiana  Bridge 
appealed  from  a  decision  of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle, 
respecting  their  call  to  Mr.  Megaw.  «  All  parties  being 
long  and  patiently  heard,  the  synod,"  it  is  said,  "on  the 
whole  do  judge  that  the  said  presbytery  have  acted  a  very 
cautious  and  Christian  part  in  making  such  a  stand  against 
bigotry  and  party  spirit  in  those  congregations,  and  striv- 
ing so  long  to  prevent  a  breach  of  a  solemn  union  stipula- 
ted between  those  societies,  and  therefore  cannot  but  highly 
disapprove  and  condemn  the  indecent  language  of  their 
appeal,  and  their  bitter  insinuations  of  injustice  from  that 
our  worthy  presbytery.  And  as  it  appears  there  was  at 
least  a  very  considerable  opposition  made  against  present- 
ing said  call,  the  presbytery  might  prudently  delay  it,  with 
a  view,  if  possible,  to  obtain  a  greater  union  in  Mr.  Megaw, 
or  some  other  person.  However,  as  more  light  in  the 
course  of  the  trial  has  been  thrown  on  the  afiair  than  was 
given  by  the  congregation  to  the  presbytery,  it  now  appears 
the  call  had  better  be  presented  to  Mr.  Megaw;  and  as  the 
presbytery  assure  us  that  they  never  intended  to  meddle 
with  the  civil  property  of  their  meeting-houses,  even  in  the 
alternative  proposed  to  those  societies,  which  was  only  for 
the  sake  of  peace,  we  leave  them  to  settle  that  matter 
according  to  their  own  articles  of  union,  and  to  determine 
the  qualifications  of  their  own  voters;  earnestly  recom- 
mending it  to  both  parties,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  to 

1  Minutes  for  1767,  p.  169. 


420  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

compromise  their  own  differences,  to  maintain  their  union 
inviolable,  and  to  follow  tlie  things  which  make  for  peace 
and  edification."  ^ 

The  same  year  a  reference  was  brought  in  from  the  pres- 
bytery of  Newcastle,  requesting  their  judgment  whether 
the  Rev.  John  Rodgers  should  be  removed  from  St.  George's 
to  New  York,  in  compliance  with  a  call  from  the  latter 
place.  After  hearing  the  commissioners  from  both  congre- 
gations, the  synod  decided  that  Mr.  Rodgers  should  remove, 
and  accordingly  "  declared  his  pastoral  relation  to  the  con- 
gregation of  St.  George's  to  be  dissolved."  ^ 

In  1771,  the  third  presbyterian  church  of  Philadelphia, 
in  Pine-street,  presented  a  call  for  the  Rev.  George  Duffield, 
of  Carlisle,  to  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  with 
the  request  that  it  might  be  forwarded  to  the  presbytery  of 
Donegal,  to  be  placed  in  Mr.  Duffield's  hands.  The  pres- 
bytery, after  much  consideration,  refused  permission  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  call.  The  principal  reasons  assigned  in 
their  minutes  for  this  judgment,  are,  that  the  whole  session 
were  opposed  to  the  call,  and  cautioned  the  people  against 
proceeding  in  the  business;  that  the  call  was  never  read  to 
the  people,  nor  made  out  at  public  meeting,  but  handed 
about  and  signed  by  the  people  separately;  that  in  virtue 
of  a  compact  between  the  first  church  in  Market-street  and 
the  Pine-street  church,  their  ministers  were  to  preach  in 
rotation  at  the  two  houses,  and  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in 
either,  a  new  pastor  was  not  to  be  chosen  by  the  one  church 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  other,  "or  at  least  the  va- 
cant church  should  study  to  choose  a  minister  who  should 
be  generally  agreeable  to  a  majority  of  the  members  of 
each  house;"  yet  in  the  present  case  the  Market-street  con- 
gregation had  not  been  consulted,  and  had  appeared  before 

'  Minutes,  p.  120,  121.  2  ibid.  p.  118. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  421 

the  presbytery  and  remonstrated  against  the  prosecution  of 
the  call.  The  presbytery  therefore  decided  that  they  had 
no  right  to  set  aside  the  agreement  between  the  two  congre- 
gations, or  to  decide  the  claim  of  property  advanced  by  the 
Market-street  people  in  the  Pine-street  building;  and  there- 
fore could  not  allow  the  call  to  be  forwarded.  They,  how- 
ever, earnestly  exhorted  the  two  congregations  to  meet  and 
endeavour  to  remove  the  difficulty;  and  in  case  this  was 
done,  the  presbytery  promised  to  meet  as  soon  as  requested, 
and  send  the  call  to  the  presbytery  to  which  Mr.  Diiffield 
belonged.  From  this  decision  the  congregation  appealed. 
The  presbytery  entered  the  appeal,  only  requiring  that  due 
notice  should  be  given  them  whether  it  was  to  be  prose- 
cuted before  the  synod  or  the  commission.  ^  When  the 
case  came  before  the  synod,  in  1773,  the  judgment  of  the 
presbytery  was  reversed  by  a  great  majority,  and  it  was 
voted  that  the  third  church  should  be  allowed  to  presecute 
their  call  before  the  presbytery  of  Donegal.  From  this  de- 
cision, Messrs.  Alexander  McDowell,  Matthew  Wilson, 
John  Miller,  and  James  Latta,  dissented,  and  assigned  sub- 
stantially the  following  reasons:  1.  Because  a  vote  to  pro- 
secute a  call,  without  any  concurrence  of  the  eldership,  and 
in  direct  opposition  to  their  solemn  caution,  and  a  call 
made  when  not  half  the  people  were  present,  is  a  new 
mode  of  proceeding  among  us,  and  a  dangerous  precedent, 
and  cause  of  anarchy  and  confusion.  2.  Because  the  deci- 
sion affected  the  interests  of  the  Market-street  congrega- 
tion, and  yet  their  commissioners  were  not  heard  in  the 
case.  3.  It  was,  moreover,  inconsistent  with  the  solemn 
compact  between  the  two  congregations.  This  strange 
judgment  of  the  synod  was  founded  on  the  erroneous 
assumption  that  the  aforesaid  compact  gave  one  society  a 

•  Minutes  of  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  p.  96 — 104. 
36 


422  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

domination  over  the  other;  whereas  it  appears,  the  minis- 
ters were  to  preach  in  rotation,  and  to  be  chosen  by  a  ma- 
jority of  both  congregations.  4.  The  votes  of  the  synod  in 
the  present  case  were  directly  the  reverse  of  those  passed 
in  the  case  of  Newcastle  and  Christiana,  which  was  of  a 
similar  character,  and  therefore  the  judgment  appeared  par- 
tial. 5.  The  decision  was  hurried  through  in  a  precipitate- 
and  unusual  manner.  6.  The  synod's  decision  tended  to 
injure  the  right  of  property  of  the  Market-street  congrega- 
tion in  the  Pine-street  church,  which  they  began  and  car- 
ried on  at  great  expense.  To  these  reasons  the  synod 
replied,  that  though  the  dissenting  brethren  had  a  right  to 
record  their  reasons  in  their  own  words,  the  synod  had  a 
right  to  say  that  they  proceeded  on  a  mistaken  view  of  the 
facts,  and  have  misrepresented  the  same,  particularly  as  to 
the  dissolving  contracts,  and  deciding  questions  of  property. 
The  commissioners  from  the  first  church  remonstrated 
against  this  decision,  and  requested  to  know  whether  it 
was  final,  and  whether  the  call  to  Mr.  Duffield  "  was  to 
their  church  in  Pine-street,  as  a  minister  to  officiate  in  that 
church."  The  synod  replied  very  briefly  that  they  consi- 
dered their  minutes  a  sufficient  answer  to  both  questions, 
and  recommended  to  the  parties,  if  they  had  disputes  about 
property,  not  to  go  to  law,  but  to  submit  the  matter  to 
arbitration.  The  session  of  the  church  in  Pine-street  then 
applied  to  the  synod  for  their  advice  whether  they  should 
continue  to  act  as  elders  in  that  congregation.  The  synod 
advised  them  to  continue  in  the  exercise  of  their  office, 
unless  their  sense  of  duty  prevented  "their  acting  on  the 
decision  of  the  synod."  In  that  case  they  might  "  resign  and 
allow  the  congregation  to  choose  elders  who  may  have  free- 
dom to  act  according  to  the  determination  of  the  synod."  ^ 

1  Minutes,  p.  263.  266,  267. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  423 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  synod,  in  1773,  Mr.  Duffield 
introduced  a  complaint  against  the  second  presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  because  "  they  had,  by  one  of  their  ministers, 
obstructed  his  entrance  to  a  church  in  this  city  under  their 
care,  to  which  he  had  accepted  a  call;  and  had  also  refused 
to  receive  him  as  a  member,  although  he  was  dismissed 
from,  and  recommended  by,  the  presbytery  of  Donegal." 
The  minutes  of  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  ^ 
assigning  their  reasons  for  their  conduct,  were  read;  and 
also  "a  petition  from  the  incorporated  committee,  (trus- 
tees,) of  the  presbyterian  churches  in  Market  and  Pine 
streets,  setting  forth  that  Mr.  Duffield,  by  the  assistance  of 
a  part  of  the  congregation  in  Pine-street,  had  taken  forcible 
possession  of  their  church  in  Pine-street,  on  the  27th  day 
of  September  last,  and  praying  us  to  afford  them  such  relief 
as  the  nature  of  the  case  required  from  us."  The  Pine- 
street  congregation  also  presented  their  account  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  after  all  the  parties  were  fully  heard,  the  synod 
decided  "That  Mr.  Duffield  had  just  cause  of  complaint 
against  the  judgment  of  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  ought  to  have  admitted  him  and  allowed  him  a 
fair  trial;  therefore  we  declare  him  to  be  minister  of  Pine- 
street,  or  third  presbyterian  congregation  in  this  city,  [with- 
out installation,  or  presbyterial  induction?]  and  order  that 
he  be  put  on  the  list  of  the  aforesaid  presbytery."*  This 
may  have  been  all  right;  but  it  is  certainly  pretty  high 
presbyterianism  for  these  new-side  brethren.    The  question 

1  There  is  a  cliasm  in  the  records  of  this  presb3'tery  from  1772  to  1781. 
That  portion  of  the  minutes  was  never  transcribed  into  the  presbytery  book, 
and  the  original  papers,  it  is  stated,  were  lost,  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Alison's 
death,  in  whose  possession  they  were.  The  reasons,  therefore,  offered  by  the 
presbytery  to  justify  their  opposition  to  Mr.  Duffield's  settlement,  cannot  now 
be  learned.  ^  Minutes,  p.  285. 


424  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

whether  the  presbytery  would  obey  the  order  of  the  synod 
to  place  Mr.  Duffield's  name  on  their  list  of  members,  was 
not  brought  to  an  issue,  as  at  the  joint  request  of  himself 
and  congregation,  they  were  disconnected  from  the  second, 
and  attached  to  the  first  presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  ^ 

In  1772,  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  presented  a  com- 
plaint against  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  for 
licensing  a  candidate  who  was  properly  under  their  care, 
and  in  regard  to  whose  character  they  were  engaged  in 
making  inquiries.  Both  presbyteries  were  fully  heard  in 
the  case,  and  the  synod  decided  that  the  presbytery  of  New- 
castle should  have  power  to  cite  the  candidate  in  question, 
hear  all  the  charges  against  him,  and  issue  the  affair  in  a 
regular  manner;  and  that  the  second  presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia be  prohibited  employing  him  until  a  final  decision 
of  the  case.  ^ 

The  same  year  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  made  a  com- 
plaint against  the  same  Philadelphia  presbytery  for  sending 
a  Mr.  Kennedy  to  preach  within  their  bounds.  The  synod 
decided  that  this  complaint  was  founded  on  misapprehen- 
sion; and  directed  Mr.  Kennedy  to  put  himself  under  the 
care  of  the  Donegal  presbytery,  until  they  could  hear  and 
decide  upon  any  charges  which  might  be  brought  against 
him.  After  some  ditficulty  on  his  part,  the  case  was  finally 
brought  to  trial  before  that  presbytery,  who  decided  to  pro- 
hibit his  preaching  any  longer  as  a  candidate  on  account  of 
the  errors  in  doctrine,  and  schismatical  and  objectionable 
conduct  of  which  they  found  him  guilty.  ^     Mr.  Kennedy 

1  Minutes,  p.  288.  «  Ibid.  p.  267. 

3  Of  this  trial  a  long  account  is  given  in  the  minutes  of  the  presbytery  of 
Donegal  for  1773,  p.  93 — 113.  During  the  trial,  Mr,  Kennedy  withdrew  in 
an  insulting  manner,  and  the  presbytery  decided,  that  as  his  absence  was 
voluntary,  it  was  their  duty  to  proceed  with  the  case  and  bring  it  to  a  deci- 
sion:  which  they  accordingly  did. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  425 

subsequently  presented  to  the  synod  a  complaint  against 
the  presbytery,  which  was  dismissed  as  frivolous.  ^ 

In  1774,  an  appeal  was  presented  from  a  decision  of  the 
presbytery  of  Newcastle,  relating  to  a  call  for  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Smith.  After  an  inefiectual  attempt  to  compromise 
the  difficulty,  the  synod  decided  that  Mr.  Smith  should  be 
allowed  to  accept  the  call  put  into  his  hands  by  the  pres- 
bytery, which  call  was  to  be  described  as  from  the  second 
church  in  Wilmington  united  with  Brandy  wine;  and  that 
he  be  directed  to  preach  half  his  time  in  the  city  and  half 
in  the  country,  taking  care  that  his  days  of  preaching  in 
town  should  not  interfere  with  the  appointments  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  McKennan;  and  the  members  of  that  presbytery 
were  earnestly  exhorted  to  cultivate  peace,  and  to  strengthen 
each  other's  hands.  ^ 

In  1776,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bay  appealed  from  a  decision  of 
the  presbytery  of  New  York,  by  which  the  pastoral  relation 
between  himself  and  congregation  had  been  dissolved. 
The  synod  affirmed  the  decision  of  the  presbytery,  except 
so  far  as  it  interfered  with 'questions  of  property,  which  they 
said  ought  to  be  referred  to  arbitrators.  ^ 

In  1782,  the  Rev.  James  Finley  appealed  from  a  judg- 
ment of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle  respecting  his  removal 
from  his  congregation.  The  synod  having  heard  all  the 
parties,  decided  "  that  the  pastoral  relation  between  Mr. 
Finley  and  his  congregation  ought  to  be  dissolved,  and  they 
do  accordingly  dissolve  it."  ^ 

EXTRAORDINARY    POWERS. 1.     THE    COMMISSION. 

It  appears  from  this  review,  that  all  the  functions  of  a 
presbyterian  synod  were  performed  by  this  body  as  regu- 

1  Minutes  of  Synod,  p.  330.  ^  Minutes,  p.  304. 

3  ibid.  p.  341.  •»  Ibid.  p.  385. 

36* 


426  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

larly  as  by  any  similar  judicatory  during  any  period  of  our 
history.  In  this  as  in  all  the  preceding  cases,  however,  we 
find  this  synod  conforming  to  the  usages  of  the  Scottish 
church,  in  the  use  of  a  commission,  in  the  exercise  of  pres- 
byterial  powers,  and  in  the  appointment  of  committees  with 
synodical  authority.  In  1758,  when  the  union  took  place, 
it  was  resolved,  "  That  the  commissions  appointed  before 
by  the  two  synods,  with  the  present  moderator,  be  together 
the  commission  of  this  synod  for  the  present  year."  ^  Such 
a  body  continued  to  be  regularly  appointed  until  the  for- 
mation of  our  present  constitution.  In  1774,  "it  was  moved 
and  seconded,  whether  a  commission  shall  be  appointed 
and  their  powers  defined,  or  whether  the  practice  should  be 
discontinued?"  In  answer  to  this  query  the  synod  adopted 
the  following  minute:  "  Whereas  there  have  arisen  doubts 
in  the  minds  of  some  members  respecting  the  utility  and 
powers  of  what  is  called  by  us  The  Commission,  the  synod 
proceeded  to  take  this  matter  into  consideration,  and  after 
due  deliberation,  in  order  to  remove  any  scruple  upon  this 
head,  and  prevent  all  future  difficulties  in  this  matter,  do 
determine  that  the  commission  shall  continue,  and  meet 
whensoever  called  by  the  moderator,  at  the  request  of  the 
first  nine  in  the  roll  of  the  commission,  or  a  major  part  of 
the  first  nine  ministers,  and  when  met,  that  it  shall  be 
invested  with  all  the  powers  of  the  synod,  and  sit  by  their 
own  adjournments  from  time  to  time;  and  let  it  be  also  duly 
attended  to,  that  there  can  be  no  appeal  from  the  judgment 
of  the  commission,  as  there  can  be  none  from  the  judgment 
of  the  synod;  but  there  may  be  a  review  of  their  proceed- 
ings and  judgments  by  the  synod;  and  whensoever  this  is 
done,  those  who  sat  as  members  of  the  commission  shall 
be   present  and  assist  in  forming  all  such  judgments  as 

1  Minutes,  p.  9. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  427 

the  synod  may  think  proper  to  make  upon  any  such  re- 


view 


2.    PRESBYTERIAL    POWERS    EXERCISED    BY    THE    SYNOD. 

The  examples  of  the  exercise  of  presbyterial  powers  on 
the  part  of  the  synod  are  very  numerous.  Besides  acting 
as  a  missionary  body,  the  synod  did  not  hesitate  to  appoint 
supplies  for  particular  congregations,  whenever  occasion 
demanded  it.  Thus  in  1760,  it  was  "ordered  that  Mr. 
Laurence  supply  Mr.  Beatty's  pulpit  the  first  and  second 
Sabbaths  of  June;  Mr.  Treat  the  third  Sabbath;  Mr.  Ram- 
say the  fourth  and  fifth  Sabbaths;"  and  so  on  for  several 
months.  In  1763,  Mr.  Gilbert  Tennent,  in  consequence  of 
the  state  of  his  health,  requested  the  synod  to  supply  his 
pulpit  during  the  summer;  and  the  synod  accordingly  ap- 
pointed supplies  from  all  the  neighbouring  presbyteries. 
When  the  synod  sent  any  settled  minister  on  any  special 
mission,  they  either  themselves  appointed  supplies  for  his 
pulpit,  or  directed  his  presbytery  to  do  it;  and  not  unfre- 
quently  directed  one  presbytery  to  supply  within  the  bounds 
of  another.  In  1765,  for  example,  it  was  "ordered  that 
the  presbytery  of  Lewistown  supply  Mr.  Ramsay's  con- 
gregation, (which  belonged  to  the  first  presbytery  of  Phila- 
delphia,) eight  Sabbaths;  Mr.  J.  Finley  and  Mr.  McKen- 
nan,  (of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,)  each  one  Sabbath; 
and  the  first  presbytery  of  Philadelphia  the  rest  of  the  time. 
Ordered  that  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  supply  Mr. 
Latta's  pulpit,  (who  belonged  to  the  second  presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,)  sixteen  Sabbaths,  and  the  second  presbytery 
of  Philadelphia  the  rest  of  the  time,"  and  so  on.  ^ 

1  Minutes,  p.  305.  2  Ibid.  p.  128. 


428  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

At  present  no  minister  is  admitted  as  a  member  of  synod 
except  in  virtue  of  his  belonging  to  some  presbytery  in  con- 
nexion with  the  body.  Formerly,  however,  the  synod 
itself  entertain  applications  for  admission,  examined,  re- 
ceived, and  even  ordained  members.  In  1758,  application 
was  made  to  the  synod  from  a  Welsh  congregation,  praying 
them  to  ordain  Mr.  John  Griffith;  and  the  synod  finding 
that  he  had  regular  certificates  from  Wales,  and  that  several 
of  their  members  were  well  acquainted  with  him  as  a  man 
of  Christian  character  and  experience,  agreed,  "  That  the 
said  John  Griffith,  though  he  has  not  the  measure  of  school 
learning  usually  required,  and  which  they  judge  to  be  ordi- 
narily requisite,  be  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry; 
and  appointed  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  Dr.  Alison,  Mr. 
Treat,  Mr.  Hunter,  and  Mr.  Kittlestas,  to  be  a  presbytery 
jiro  re  nata  to  ordain  him  to-morrow  morning  at  eleven 
o'clock."  This  service  was  accordingly  performed,  and  it 
was  ordered  that  Mr.  Griffith  belong  to  the  presbytery  of 
Philadelphia.  ^ 

In  1765,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Leavit,  after  adopting  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  promising  to  conform 
himself  to  the  Westminster  Directory,  was  received  by  the 
synod  and  advised  to  put  himself  under  the  care  of  some 
one  of  our  presbyteries.  ^ 

In  1777,  the  Rev.  James  Wharton  of  the  Associate  pres- 
bytery of  Pennsylvania,  applied  to  be  received  as  a  mem- 
ber; and  the  synod  having  conversed  with  him,  and  heard 
at  considerable  length  his  sentiments  on  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel,  and  terms  of  Christian  and  ministerial  communion, 
and  having  had  sufficient  testimonials  of  his  moral  cha- 
racter, and  of  his  good  standing  in  the  ministry  in  the 

1  Minutes,  pp.  8.  10.  2  ibid.  p.  127. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  429 

church  of  which  he  has  been  a  member,  unanimously- 
agreed  to  receive  him,  and  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
presbytery  of  Donegal.  ^ 

In  1774,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair  formerly  in  connexion 
with  the  synod,  requested  to  be  enrolled  as  a  member; 
which  request  was  granted  and  he  accordingly  took  his 
seat;  and  the  synod  desired  Mr.  Blair  to  connect  himself 
with  some  presbytery  as  soon  as  convenient.  - 

The  case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Magill  also  belongs  to  this 
head.  In  1773,  he  was  received  by  the  second  presbytery 
of  Philadelphia,  but  the  synod  reversed  their  judgment.  In 
1775,  he  presented  additional  testimonials,  and  the  synod 
decided,  "  that  they  could  not  at  present  receive  him  as  a 
member,"  but  being  anxious  to  do  all  they  could  for  his 
relief,  appointed  Dr.  Rodgers  to  endeavour  to  obtain  light 
as  to  his  case  from  the  Associate  presbytery  of  Monaghan 
in  Ireland,  and  Dr.  Witherspoon  from  the  Associate  synod 
in  Edinburgh.  In  1776,  the  synod  received  him  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  appointed 
him  to  supply  for  eight  months  in  the  western  parts  of 
Pennsylvania,  under  the  direction  of  the  presbytery  of  Do- 
negal. 

In  1785,  the  Rev.  John  Hiddleson,  from  the  presbytery  of 
Belfast  in  Ireland,  presented  his  credentials,  and  requested 
to  be  received  as  a  member  of  synod.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  examine  his  credentials,  and  "  to  converse 
with  the  young  gentleman,"  and  to  report  their  opinion  of 
his  case.  That  committee  reported  that  in  their  judgment, 
he  "  ought  not  at  present  to  be  annexed  as  a  minister  to 
any  presbytery  belonging  to  the  synod;  but  if  he  chooses 
he  may  commit  himself  to  the  care  of  some  presbytery, 

1  Minutes,  p.  347.  2  Ibid.  p.  307. 


430  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

who  shall  proceed  with  him  as  they  may  judge  best,  and 
make  report  to  the  synod  at  their  next  meeting."  This 
report  was  adopted.  ^ 

In  1786,  the  testimonials  of  the  Rev.  James  Thorn,  of  the 
presbytery  of  Dundee,  in  Scotland,  were  laid  before  the 
synod  and  approved.  Whereupon  he  was  admitted  to  join 
himself  to  any  presbytery  belonging  to  this  body;  and, 
being  present,  he  was  invited  to  sit  as  a  correspondent.  ^ 

In  1787,  "the  testimonials  of  Mr.  John  Young,  a  proba- 
tioner from  the  presbytery  of  Irvine,  in  Scotland,  accom- 
panied by  corroborating  evidential  letters,  were  laid  before 
the  synod  and  approved,  and  he  had  leave  to  put  himself 
under  the  care  of  the  presbytery  of  New  York." 

The  synod  also  acted  more  or  less  in  a  presbyterial  capa- 
city, in  allowing  calls  from  congregations  to  be  addressed 
to  them  for  particular  ministers.  In  1765,  a  call  from  Cat- 
try's  settlement,  in  North  Carolina,  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  Spen- 
cer, was  brought  into  synod,  and  presented  to  him.  At  the 
same  time  a  call  from  Hopewell  and  Centre  congregations, 
in  the  same  state,  for  the  Rev.  Mr.  McWhorter,  was  intro- 
duced; but  the  synod  apprehending  that  some  other  person 
might  more  conveniently  be  sent,  did  not  present  it  to  him.  ^ 

In  1766,  two  calls  for  Mr.  Nathan  Ker,  were  brought 
before  the  synod  and  given  him  for  his  consideration,  with 
the  direction  to  report  his  answer  to  the  presbytery  of  New 
York.  In  1768,  a  call  for  Mr.  McCreary,  a  candidate  un- 
der the  care  of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  was  brought 
in  and  read,  and  Mr.  McCreary's  answer  requested.  As 
he  was  not  prepared  to  give  an  immediate  reply,  he  was 
directed  to  give  his  answer  to  his  presbytery,  who  were 
requested,  in  case  he  accepted  the  call,  to  ordain  him  as 

'  Minutes,  p.  424.  426.  2  ibid.  p.  438.  3  Ibid.  p.  119,  120. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  431 

soon  as  convenient.  ^  In  all  these,  and  in  other  similar 
cases,  the  calls  were  from  distant  congregations  not  under 
the  care  of  any  particular  presbytery. 

The  synod  at  times  acted  more  in  a  presbyterial  than  a 
synodical  capacity,  when  cases  of  discipline  were  referred 
to  them.  In  1771,  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
referred  to  the  consideration  of  the  synod,  the  case  of  a 
minister  who  had  left  his  pastoral  charge,  whose  character 
laboured  under  serious  charges,  and  who,  though  twice 
cited,  had  refused  to  appear  before  the  presbytery,  but  had 
requested  his  name  to  be  struck  from  their  roll.  The  synod 
instead  of  instructing  the  presbytery  how  to  proceed,  them- 
selves took  up  the  case,  directed  Dr.  Rodgers  to  prepare  a 
citation  specifying  the  charges  against  the  accused,  to  be 
signed  by  the  moderator,  and  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  matters,  and  to  cite  witnesses.  The  accused  was 
then  informed  of  the  time  of  trial,  and  given  to  understand 
that  the  citation  then  served  was  to  be  the  last,  and  that 
the  synod  would  proceed  to  hear  and  issue  the  case  whe- 
ther he  attended  or  not.  At  the  time  appointed,  the  accus- 
ed appeared  before  the  synod  and  made  a  free  confession 
of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge,  and  declared  himself  un- 
feignedly  sorry,  and  deeply  penitent,  for  his  very  offensive 
conduct.  And  the  synod,  after  prayer  to  God  for  direction, 
declared  their  opinion  that  the  crimes  charged  fully  merited 
deposition,  but  in  respect  of  his  humble  and  penitent  car- 
riage, it  was  agreed  to  suspend  him  from  the  exercise  of 
his  ministry  sine  die;  and  they  prohibited  him,  under  pain 
of  the  highest  censures  of  the  church,  from  exercising  the 
same,  or  any  part  thereof,  within  the  bounds  of  the  synod 
or  elsewhere;  and  they  discharged  any  inferior  judicatory 
from  taking  off  this  suspension,  or  from  receiving  any  ap- 

'  Minutes,  p.  187. 


432  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

plication  for  that  purpose.    The  synod,  moreover,  dissolved 
his  pastoral  relation  to  his   congregation,  and  suspended 
him  from  the  sealing  ordinances  of  the  church,  but  left  it 
to  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  or  any   other 
where  he  might  reside,  to  restore  him  to  Christian  commu- 
nion, upon  his  application,  when  they  shall  see  proper.    It 
was  ordered,  that  he  should  be  publicly  rebuked  by  the 
moderator  from  the  chair,   and  that  this  whole  sentence 
should  be  read  from  the  pulpit  of  his  late  church  on  the 
following  Lord's  day.  ^     In  1772,  this  gentleman  presented 
a  petition  to  the  synod  to  be  restored  to  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry,  and  the  synod,  after  mature  deliberation,  deter- 
mined to  restore  him  for  one  year,  under  the  particular 
care  of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,   and  the   Rev,   Mr. 
McDowell  was  appointed  to  give  him  a  solemn  admonition 
Avith  regard  to  his  future  conduct.     He  was  accordingly 
called  in,  received  the  admonition,  and  took  his  seat  as  a 
member  of  the  synod.  ^     The  following  year  the  presby- 
tery of  Newcastle  reported  that   they  had  received   him 
agreeably  to   the  order  of  the  synod,   that  he   had  since 
laboured  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  under  their  direction, 
and  behaved  himself  in  a  becoming  and  regular  manner  as 
far  as  was  known  to  them.     The  synod  then  agreed  to 
restore  him  fully  to  his  ministry,  and  exhorted  him  to  the 
greatest  humility,  circumspection,  and  meekness,  through 
the  remaining  part  of  his  life.     And  as  he  had  the  prospect 
of  labouring  principally  within  the  bounds  of  the  first  pres- 
bytery of  Philadelphia,  he  was  joined  to  that  body.  ^     This 
whole   proceeding   shows   a   style   of   presbyterianism   to 
which  we  have  been  long  unaccustomed.    The  synod  itself 
proceeding  to  the  trial  in  the  first  instance,  passing  sen- 
tence, forbidding  any  presbytery  to  remove  that  sentence, 

'  Minutes,  p.  239,  240.  2  Ibid.  p.  256.  »  Ibid.  p.  276. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  433 

themselves  first  partially,  and  then  fully  restoring  him  to 
the  ministry,  and  attaching  him  first  to  one  presbytery  and 
then  to  another,  suppose  the  doctrine  that  the  synod  was  a 
larger  presbytery,  and  included  within  itself  all  the  powers 
of  the  lower  judicatories. 

COMMITTEES    WITH    SYNODICAL    POWERS. 

The  appointment  of  committees  with  synodical  powers, 
and  sending  correspondents  to  sit  with  a  presbytery  to 
aid  them  in  any  difficult  business,  were  modes  of  action 
in  which  this  synod  conformed  to  the  early  usages  of 
our  church,  and  to  those  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  to  a 
greater  extent  than  is  now  customary.  In  1759,  a  com- 
plaint was  presented  against  the  first  presbytery  of  New- 
castle, but  the  matter  not  being  ready  for  trial,  the  synod 
appointed  the  existing  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  and  Messrs, 
Elder,  Roan,  John  Miller,  and  Steel,  a  committee  of  the 
synod,  to  meet  at  Chesnut  Level,  and  take  such  notice  of 
the  grounds  of  the  complaint  as  they  might  judge  neces- 
sary. ^  In  1761,  an  appeal  from  a  judgment  of  the  presby- 
tery of  New  York  was  presented  by  Mr.  Kittletas,  and  the 
minutes  of  the  presbytery,  and  their  reasons  in  support  of 
their  judgment  were  read,  and  then  the  synod  appointed 
Messrs.  William  Tennent,  Treat,  Hunter,  Alison,  &c.  &c.  a 
committee,  to  meet  at  Princeton,  and  determine  the  whole 
matter.^  This  committee  reported,  the  following  year,  that 
they  met  agreeably  to  their  appointment,  and  "  took  the 
affair  under  consideration;  and  finding  Mr.  Kittletas  w-as 
not  present,  who  sent  sufficient  reasons  to  excuse  his  ab- 
sence, and  earnestly  requested  that  we  would  endeavour  to 
remove  the  difference  between  him  and  the  presbytery  of 

<  Minutes,  p.  20.  2  Ibid  p.  53. 

37 


434  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

New  York.  It  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  the  com- 
mittee could  not  proceed  in  a  judicial  way  to  determine  the 
cause  while  one  of  the  parties  was  absent.  That  it  was 
thought  proper  to  confer  with  the  presbytery,  and  to  remove 
all  grounds  of  complaint  between  him  and  them  if  possible. 
It  plainly  appeared  from  what  had  been  acknowledged 
both  by  Mr.  Kittletas  and  the  presbytery,  that  the  presby- 
tery in  dealing  with  him,  intended  only  to  bear  a  testi- 
mony, in  a  moderate  manner,  against  any  thing  which  de- 
served censure  or  admonition,  even  in  a  brother  for  whom 
they  had  a  very  high  esteem,  and  that  in  so  doing  they  did 
not  intend  to  suspend  him,  or  remove  him  from  their  fel- 
lowship as  a  brother,  but  only  to  admonish  him  in  a  friend- 
ly manner,  and  in  this  the  committee  approve  their  design; 
and  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Kittletas  desired  our  assistance  to 
remove  all  misunderstanding,  that  he  may  live  in  peace  and 
friendship  with  the  presbytery,  as  well  as  with  his  other 
brethren,  we  have  requested  the  presbytery  to  grant  this 
desire,  and  they  have  condescended  to  what  we  requested, 
and  from  henceforth  do  receive  him  hUo  good  standing 
with  them  without  any  further  censure."  ^ 

It  has  been  often  a  matter  of  dispute  among  presbyte- 
rians,  whether  it  is  proper  to  proceed  with  the  trial  of  an 
accused  person  in  his  absence,  or  to  the  decision  of  a  case 
in  the  absence  of  one  of  the  parties.  Some  have  maintain- 
ed that  if  the  accused  refused  to  attend  after  due  citation, 
or  withdrew  during  the  progress  of  the  trial,  the  proper 
method  was  to  censure,  either  by  rebuke,  suspension,  or 
deposition,  as  the  case  might  demand,  for  contumacy,  but 
not  to  proceed  with  the  trial.  This  method  of  proceeding, 
it  has  been  supposed,  sufficiently  protects  the  church,  as 
unworthy  members  or  ministers  may  be  cut  off  though  they 

'  Minutes,  p.  61. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  435 

refuse  lo  submit  to  discii:iline,  while  it  avoids  the  apparent 
violation  of  the  principles  of  justice  in  trying  a  man  in  his 
absence.  The  practice  of  our  church  on  this  point  does  not 
seem  to  be  uniform.  In  the  case  of  Mr.  Kennedy  before 
the  presbytery  of  Donegal,  referred  to  above,  the  presby- 
tery proceeded  with  the  trial,  though  he  refused,  after  a 
certain  time,  to  attend.  And  in  the  case  referred  to  the 
synod  by  the  second  presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  notice  was 
sent  to  the  accused  that  the  synod  would  proceed  with  the 
trial,  whether  he  attended  or  not.  In  the  above  minute, 
however,  we  find  the  committee  unanimously  resolving 
that  they  could  not  proceed  to  a  judicial  hearing  of  the  case 
before  them  in  the  absence  of  one  of  the  parties.  In  this 
latter  instance,  it  is  true,  the  absence  was  excusable  and  not 
contumacious. 

In  1762,  an  appeal  was  brought  in  from  a  decision  of  the 
presbytery  of  Donegal,  and  a  committee  of  eleven  ministers 
was  appointed  to  examine  into  the  grounds  of  the  com- 
plaint, as  contained  in  the  appeal,  with  full  liberty  to  consi- 
der the  case,  and  determine  as  they  should  obtain  light.  ^ 
In  1764,  a  certain  John  Harris  presented  an  appeal  from  a 
judgment  of  the  presbytery  of  Newcastle,  and  the  synod 
appointed  Mr.  Robert  Smith  and  twelve  other  ministers  to 
hear  and  try  the  merits  of  the  cause,  and  to  issue  the  whole 
affair.  ^ 

In  1765,  an  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the  presbytery 
of  Donegal,  respecting  Mr.  Roan  and  Mr.  Edmiston,  was 
presented  by  Mr.  Edmiston,  together  with  a  reference  res- 
pecting the  same  affair,  by  the  presbytery;  and  also  an 
appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the  said  presbytery,  by  Mr. 
McMurdie.  The  synod  appointed  a  committee  of  thirteen, 
to  meet  at  Hanover,  and  to  issue  and  determine  these  mat- 

I  Minutes,  p.  73.  2  ibid.  p.  110. 


436  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

ters.  ^  la  1766,  an  appeal  from  a  decision  of  the  presby- 
tery of  Suffolk  was  presented,  and  after  hearing  the  appel- 
lant and  the  presbytery,  it  was  ordered  that  Messrs.  Rod- 
gers,  Tennent,  &c.  &c,  be  a  committee  to  meet  each  with 
an  elder,  at  Huntingdon,  and  try  and  issue  the  whole 
affair.  ^ 

In  1768,  a  petition  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Sackett,  praying  the  synod  to  take  into  consideration  the 
differences  between  him  and  the  presbytery  of  Dutchess; 
and  also  a  supplication  from  the  church  at  Bedford,  West- 
chester county,  praying  that  a  committee  might  be  appointed 
to  settle  all  differences  in  their  congregation.  The  synod 
accordingly  appointed  a  committee  of  eleven  ministers  to 
meet  and  examine  into  these  difficulties,  and  to  settle  all 
differences.  The  following  year  this  committee  reported, 
and  the  synod  approved  of  their  proceedings,  except  of  so 
much  of  their  judgment  as  disconnected  Mr.  Sackett  from 
the  presbytery  of  Dutchess,  and  annexed  him  to  the  pres- 
bytery of  New  York;  which  was  reversed,  and  Mr.  Sackett 
returned  to  his  former  presbytery.^ 

In  1773,  when  the  presbytery  of  Donegal  were  directed 
to  proceed  with  the  trial  of  Mr.  Kennedy,  they  requested 
that  some  members  of  the  synod  might  be  joined  with  them 
on  the  trial;  and  it  was  ordered,  that  Messrs.  Robert  Smith, 
Latta,  Foster,  and  Woodhull,  be  added  to  them  for  that 
purpose.  "* 

In  17S6,  the  synod  having  been  informed  that  several 
disorders  had  taken  place  within  the  bounds  of  the  pres- 
bytery of  Abingdon,  appointed  a  committee  of  six  ministers 
to  meet  at  Salem  church,  with  power  to  cite  such  persons, 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  synod,  who  had  been  con- 

1  Minutes,  p.  113.  2  Ibid.  p.  144. 

»  Ibid.  pp.  187.  193.  4  ibid.  p.  278. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  437 

cerned  in  these  disorders,  and  if  unanimous,  to  give  judg- 
ment, otherwise  to  cite  all  parties  to  appear  before  the  synod 
at  their  next  meeting.  Dr.  Moses  Hoge  was  the  only 
member  of  the  committee  who  attended;  the  excuses  of  the 
other  members  were  sustained.  The  difficulties  in  question, 
however,  were  brought  up  by  a  complaint  from  the  Salem 
church  against  the  presbytery  of  Abingdon.  One  ground 
of  this  complaint,  viz:  that  the  presbytery  had  licensed  a 
young  man  who  was  under  suspension,  was  found  upon 
examination  to  be  unfounded.  The  synod  appointed  a 
com.mittee  to  confer  with  the  members  of  the  presbytery  who 
were  at  variance  with  each  other,  and  by  this  means  a  recon- 
ciliation was  effected.  The  synod  earnestly  recommended, 
inter  alia,  that  so  far  as  questions  about  psalmody  were  con- 
cerned, difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  should  not  be 
made  the  ground  of  unchristian  censure  against  either  party; 
though  they  had  allowed  the  use  of  Watts',  they  were  far 
from  disapproving  of  the  old  version.  The  synod  at  the 
same  time  found  great  fault  with  a  printed  letter  addressed 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Balch,  and  ascribed  to  the  Rev.  Wm.  Gra- 
ham, and  directed  the  presbytery  of  Lexington  to  cite  Mr. 
Graham  before  them,  and  ascertain  whether  he  was  the 
author,  and  to  censure  or  acquit  him  as  they  should  see 
cause. 

Our  judicatories  are  sometimes  so  oppressed  with  judicial 
business,  that  it  might  be  well,  on  some  occasions,  to  resort 
to  this  old  usage  of  our  church,  and  appoint  committees 
with  plenary  powers.  Most  men  would  be  as  willing  to 
have  a  cause  in  which  they  were  interested,  decided  by  ten 
good  men  as  by  a  hundred.  Much  time  would  thus  be 
saved,  and  many  details  of  evidence  kept  from  coming 
before  a  large  assembly. 

37* 


438  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 


THE    SYNOD  S    INTERCOURSE    WITH    OTHER    CHURCHES. 

A  liberal  and  catholic  spirit  has  been  characteristic  of  our 
church  from  the  beginning.  It  has  ever  been  ready  to 
maintain  Christian  fellowship  with  all  other  evangelical 
denominations.  In  accordance  with  this  spirit  the  synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  soon  after  its  organization, 
sought  fraternal  intercourse  with  kindred  churches  both  in 
Europe  and  America.  At  its  first  meeting  in  1 758,  Messrs. 
Robert  Cross,  Gilbert  Tennent,  Francis  Alison,  and  Richard 
Treat,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  correspond  in  the 
name  of  the  synod  with  churches  of  our  persuasion  in  Bri- 
tain and  Ireland,  in  these  colonies  and  elsewhere.  ^  In  the 
minutes  for  1766,  the  churches  mentioned  as  those  with 
whom  this  correspondence  was  to  be  conducted,  were  those 
of  Holland,  Switzerland,  the  General  Assembly  and  the 
Secession  synod  in  Scotland,  the  ministers  in  and  about 
London,  the  general  synod  of  Ireland,  the  ministers  of 
Dublin,  New  England,  and  the  churches  in  South  Carolina. 
The  references  to  this  correspondence  in  the  records  are 
very  frequent;  but  as  the  letters  written  and  received  are 
not  inserted,  the  minutes  give  no  information  on  the  subject, 
beyond  the  fact  that  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  several 
bodies  above  mentioned  was  maintained,  particularly  with 
the  synod  of  North  Holland,  the  general  assembly  in  Scot- 
land, and  the  church  of  Geneva,  from  all  of  which  letters 
were  received.  ^ 

In  1769,  at  the  request  of  several  seceding  ministers.  Dr. 
Witherspoon  moved  in  synod,  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  converse  with  them,  with  a  view  to  bring  about  a  union 
between  them  and  this  synod.     A  petition  was  presented 

'  Minutes,  p.  10.  2  Ibid.  pp.  231.  236.  240. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  439 

at  the  same  time  from  several  inhabitants  about  Marsh 
creek,  praying  that  the  synod  would  use  their  endeavour  to 
form  a  union  with  the  Seceders.  A  committee,  of  which 
Dr.  Witherspoon  was  chairman,  was  accordingly  appointed 
for  this  purpose.  The  following  year  they  reported,  that 
by  reason  of  several  disappointments  they  had  not  been 
able  to  meet.  In  1771,  it  is  stated  that  this  committee 
"  brought  in  the  minutes  of  their  proceedings,  and  their 
conduct  was  highly  approved."  ^  Certain  questions  had 
been  submitted  to  the  Associate  presbytery,  to  which  an- 
swers were  reported  to  the  synod  in  1772.  For  want  of 
time,  however,  they  were  not  read,  but  were  referred  to 
Dr.  Witherspoon  and  others  for  consideration ;  ^  who  the 
next  year  reported,  that  as  the  Associate  brethren  had  not 
given  any  answer  to  the  proposal  of  the  committee  of  synod 
made  the  year  before,  they  had  not  thought  it  proper  to 
make  any  further  reply  to  those  brethren,  than  that  if  any 
thing  was  to  be  done  further  towards  a  coalition  between 
the  Associate  presbytery  and  the  synod,  the  proposal  must 
come  from  the  former,  which  the  committee  would  be  ready 
to  receive. ^ 

This  negociation  does  not  appear  to  have  been  resumed 
until  1785,  when  the  synod  was  informed,  "that  some  of 
the  brethren  of  the  Dutch  synod,  and  one  of  the  members 
of  the  Associate  reformed  synod,  had  expressed  a  desire  of 
some  measures  being  taken  to  promote  a  friendly  inter- 
course between  the  three  synods,  or  for  laying  a  plan  for 
some  kind  of  union  among  them,  whereby  they  might  be 
enabled  to  unite  their  interests  and  combine  their  efforts  for 
promoting  the  cause  of  truth  and  vital  reUgion ;  and  at  the 
same  time  giving  it  as  their  judgment  that  such  plan  was 
practicable.     The  synod,"  it  is  added,  "  were   happy  in 

»  Minutes,  p.  236.  2  Ibid.  p.  268.  »  Ibid.  p.  279. 


440  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

finding  such  a  disposition  in  the  brethren  of  the  above 
synods;  and  cheerfully  concur  with  them  in  thinking  that 
such  a  measure  is  both  desirable  and  practicable,  and  there- 
fore appoint  Dr.  Witherspoon,  Dr.  Jones,  Dr.  Rodgers,  Dr. 
McWhorter,  Dr.  Smith,  Mr.  Duffield,  Mr.  Alexander  Miller, 
Mr.  Israel  Reed,  Mr.  John  WoodhuU,  and  Mr.  Nathan  Ker, 
a  committee  to  meet  such  committees  as  may  be  appointed 
by  the  low  Dutch  synod  now  sitting  in  New  York,  and  by 
the  Associate  synod,  to  meet  in  that  city  next  week,  at  such 
time  and  place  as  may  be  agreed  upon;  to  confer  with  the 
brethren  of  said  synods  on  this  important  subject;  and  to 
concert  such  measures  with  them  for  the  accomplishment 
of  these  great  ends  as  they  shall  judge  expedient."  ^ 

It  appears  from  the  minutes  of  the  following  year,  that 
the  committees  of  the  three  synods  met  in  New  York  the 
5th  of  October,  1785,  and  organized  themselves  as  a  con- 
vention. Their  first  measure  was  to  appoint  two  members 
from  each  committee  to  digest  the  several  subjects  to  be  laid 
before  the  convention.  In  this  sub-committee  the  first 
inquiry  was,  what  the  formulas  of  doctrine  and  worship 
are  to  which  each  synod  respectively  adheres?  The  answer 
given  by  the  Dutch  members  is  not  recorded;  that  given  by 
the  members  from  the  synod  of  New  York  was  quoted  on 
a  previous  page ;  ^  that  of  the  members  of  the  Associate 
synod  is  stated  to  have  been,  "in  substance,  very  analogous 
to  that  made  by  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.'' 
It  was  then  resolved.  That  the  formulas  and  standards  men- 
tioned in  the  respective  representations  are  mutually  satis- 
factory, and  lay  a  sufficient  basis  for  the  fraternal  corres- 
pondence and  concord  of  the  several  synods. 

"The  second  inquiry  was,  whether  the  corresponding 
synods,  in  order  to  lay  the  foundation  of  entire  confidence 
1  Minutes,  p.  418.  2  See  above,  p.  372. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  441 

in  each  other,  were  wilUng  to  give  solemn  and  mutual 
assurances  of  their  vigilance  and  fidelity,  in  requiring  of 
their  ecclesiastical  officers,  an  explicit  and  unequivocal  assent 
to  their  present  formulas  or  standards  of  discipline  and  faith; 
and  will  take  such  measures  as  to  them  respectively  shall 
seem  most  reasonable  and  effectual  to  secure  the  same 
fidelity  and  orthodoxy  in  all  time  to  come?  The  answer 
was  unanimously  given  in  the  affirmative.  Resolved,  that 
the  nature  of  these  assurances  be  left  to  be  determined  by 
the  convention. 

'•  The  third  inquiry  was,  whether  they  will  agree  mutu- 
ally to  watch  over  each  other's  purity  in  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline; and  whether  they  will  agree  mutually  to  receive 
complaints  that  may  be  made  by  either  of  the  others  against 
particular  members  of  their  respective  bodies,  who  may  be 
supposed  to  be  departing  from  the  faith,  or  from  the  exact- 
ness of  their  church  discipline?  Agreed  in  the  affirmative; 
but  that  the  mode  shall  be  referred  to  the  General  con- 
vention, 

"  The  fourth  inquiry  was,  whether  they  would  mutually 
promise  to  introduce  and  maintain  the  most  exact  discipline 
that  the  circumstances  of  the  country  and  spirit  of  the 
people  will  bear?  Resolved,  that  this  is  an  article  of  the 
utmost  importance;  and  resolved,  moreover,  that  it  be 
recommended  to  the  convention,  to  consider  of  and  adopt 
proper  means  for  aiding  the  exercise  of  discipline  by  dis- 
couraging fugitives  from  it,  out  of  any  of  the  churches;  and 
especially  by  not  receiving  any  persons  to  church  member- 
ship without  sufficient  credentials  of  their  good  moral  cha- 
racter and  orderly  behaviour  from  the  church  to  which  they 
now  immediately  belong,  or  have  lately  belonged. 

'•'  The  fifth  inquiry  related  to  grievances  or  causes  of  com- 
plaint that  may  have  arisen  between  the  ministers  or  con- 


442  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

gregations  of  the  respective  synods.  Resolved,  that  they 
ought  to  be  candidly  heard,  and  the  most  speedy  and  effec- 
tual measures  taken  to  redress  them. 

"  The  sixth  and  last  inquiry,  or  proposition,  respected 
some  mode  of  establishing  a  visible  intercourse  and  perma- 
nent correspondence  between  the  several  synods.  Resolved, 
that  this  subject  be  referred  to  the  consideration  of  the  con- 
vention, but  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  convention  to 
establish  an  annual  convention  of  the  three  synods  by  their 
delegates,  which  may  consist  at  least  of  three  ministers  and 
three  elders  from  each;  and  that  the  general  objects  of  this 
convention  be  to  strengthen  each  other's  hands  in  the  great 
work  of  the  gospel  ministry;  to  give  and  receive  mutual 
information  of  the  state  of  religion  within  their  respective 
churches;  to  consider  and  adopt  the  most  prudent  means  to 
prevent  or  remedy  any  causes  of  dissention  that  may  hap- 
pen to  arise  between  our  respective  congregations,  agree- 
ably to  the  instructions  that  may  be  given  by  the  respec- 
tive synods;  and  to  concert  measures  for  uniting  our  efforts 
to  defend  and  promote  the  principles  of  the  gospel,  and 
oppose  the  progress  of  infidelity  and  error;  and  to  adopt 
plans  for  effectually  assisting  the  exercise  of  discipline  in 
our  churches,  and  encouraging  each  other  in  its  execution ; 
and  for  such  other  purposes  as  the  convention  may  think 
proper.  Resolved,  to  recommend  that  the  first  meeting  of 
the  above  convention  shall  be  held  the  second  Tuesday  of 
October,  at  New  York,  and  afterwards  at  such  time  and 
place  as  shall  be  appointed  at  the  preceding  convention." 

When  this  sub-committee  of  six  made  the  above  report 
to  the  general  committee  or  convention,  it  was  approved 
and  adopted;  and  the  several  points  referred  by  the  sub- 
committee to  the  convention,  were  taken  up  and  acted 
upon.     "On  the  second  inquiry  it  was  resolved,  that  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  443 

manner  in  which  the  synods  shall  give  a  solemn  pledge  to 
each  other  of  the  formula  of  their  faith  which  they  have 
openly  professed,  and  of  their  strict  attachment  to  the 
same,  shall  be  by  an  act  of  each  synod,  wherein  an  accu- 
rate recital  of  such  formula  shall  be  made,  with  a  positive 
declaration  that  it  is  their  sincere  determination  before  God, 
always  to  abide  by  the  same,  for  which  purpose  they 
honestly  pledge  themselves  to  the  two  other  synods;  which 
declaration  and  promise  shall  be  signed  by  the  president 
or  moderator  of  the  synod,  and  at  the  first  convention  to 
be  formed  by  delegates  from  the  respective  synods,  be  read 
and  entered  upon  the  records  of  the  convention,  and  copies 
of  all  the  declarations  be  transmitted  to  each  synod  and 
entered  upon  their  respective  records;  which  records  shall 
remain  a  perpetual  witness  against  either  party  that  shall 
ever  deviate  therefrom.  And  also  that  each  synod  shall 
communicate,  by  their  respective  delegates,  the  form  of 
testimonials  or  credentials  given  to  their  candidates,  and  of 
those  given  to  ordained  ministers;  which  copies  shall  also 
be  entered  on  the  records  of  the  respective  synods. 

"  Resolved,  on  the  third  inquiry,  that  we  will  mutually 
watch  over  each  other's  purity  in  doctrine  and  discipline, 
and  be  ready  to  receive  complaints  against  any  of  our 
ministers  upon  these  subjects;  and  that  the  mode  in  which 
such  complaint  shall  be  preferred  and  prosecuted  shall  be, 
either  by  individuals,  who  shall  prosecute  in  their  own 
names,  cum  periculo;  or  by  a  classis,  presbytery,  or  synod 
of  a  sister  church :  in  which  case  it  shall  be  taken  up  and 
prosecuted  as  a  fama  chunosa,  by  the  classis,  presbytery, 
or  synod  to  which  the  offender,  or  offenders,  may  belong; 
and  the  whole  proceedings  shall  be  transmitted,  properly 
authenticated  by  the  moderator,  the  president,  the  scribe 
or  clerk,  to  the  informing  body  for  their  satisfaction. 


444  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

"  On  the  fourth  inquiry,  resolved,  that  in  order  to  aid 
the  exercise  of  disciphne,  and  discourage  fugitives  from  it, 
every  classis,  presbytery,  or  synod,  shall  officially  commu- 
nicate to  its  neighbouring  presbytery,  classis,  or  synod,  the 
name  or  names  of  every  minister  or  candidate  subject  to 
censure,  either  of  a  lesser  or  higher  nature;  after  which 
such  presbytery,  classis,  or  synod,  shall  be  held  to  view  and 
treat  such  minister  or  candidate  as  lying  under  ecclesiasti- 
cal censure  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if  they  belonged 
to  their  own  body,  until  such  person  or  persons  shall  be 
regularly  acquitted,  or  restored  by  the  judicatory  who  had 
inflicted  such  censure. 

"  With  reference  to  the  fifth  inquiry,  relating  to  such 
grievances  as  may  hereafter  arise  in  congregations  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  different  corresponding  synods,  it  is 
determined  that  such  differences  shall  be  referred  to  the 
consideration  of  a  future  convention.  But  as  it  is  possible 
that  some  contingencies  may  arise  which  will  render  a  call 
of  the  convention  before  the  stated  time  of  meeting  neces- 
sary, it  is  resolved,  that  a  power  be  lodged  in  the  modera- 
tor of  the  convention,  with  the  consent  of  one  member  at 
least  from  each  synod,  by  circular  letters  to  call  an  extraor- 
dinary convention,  provided  that  such  call  be  not  more 
than  once  in  one  year. 

"The  convention  thought  proper  to  amend  the  resolution 
of  their  committee,  by  agreeing  to  a  biennial  instead  of  an 
annual  convention. 

"  On  motion  to  ascertain  and  limit  the  powers  of  the  con- 
vention in  all  time  to  come,  resolved,  That  those  powers 
shall  be  merely  of  counsel  and  advice,  and  that  it  shall  on 
no  account  possess  judiciary  or  executive  authority,  and 
every  subject  that  shall  come  regularly  before  the  conven- 
tion, shall,  after  being  properly  digested,  be  referred  to  the 


IN    THE    UKITED    STATES.  445 

respective  synods,  together  with  the  opinion  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  the  reasons  on  which  it  is  founded,  for  their  judi- 
cial and  ultimate  decision. 

"  Agreed,  that  the  convention  shall,  when  met,  set  apart 
a  certain  portion  of  their  time  for  social  prayer  to  Almighty 
God,  for  his  blessing  on  their  counsels  and  the  chinches 
which  they  represent;  and  that  said  convention,  whenever 
circumstances  appear  to  them  to  require  public  and  gene- 
ral humiliation  or  thanksgiving,  shall  recommend  to  the 
corresponding  synods  to  set  apart  the  same  day  to  be  ob- 
served throughout  all  their  churches." 

When  this  report  was  laid  by  the  committee  before  the 
synod,  that  body  "approved  of  their  diligence  and  fidelity 
in  the  matter,  and  agreed  to  appoint  a  committee  to  meet 
such  delegates  as  may  be  appointed  by  the  other  synods, 
on  this  business,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the  second 
Tuesday  of  October  next,"  the  day  appointed  for  the  con- 
vention. The  synod  prepared  the  following  instructions 
for  their  delegation:  "The  delegates,  on  the  part  of  this 
synod,  are  to  inform  the  convention  that  this  body  is  about 
to  divide  itself  into  four  synods,  subordinate  to  a  general 
assembly;  that  they  have  under  consideration  a  plan  of 
church  government  and  discipline,  which  it  is  hoped  when 
completed,  will  be  sufficient  to  answer  every  query  of  the 
convention  upon  that  head;  and  that  the  mutual  assurances 
mentioned  in  the  minutes  of  the  last  convention  may,  as  far 
as  they  respect  this  synod,  be  made  more  properly  after  tlie 
intended  system  is  finished  than  at  present.  They  are  to 
assure  the  convention  of  the  readiness  and  desire  of  this 
body,  in  the  mean  time,  to  unite  in  a  consistent  manner 
their  influence  with  that  of  the  other  synods,  in  order  to 
promote  the  spiritual  interests  and  best  good  of  the  whole. 
And  the  delegates  from  this  synod  are  to  enter  into  a  friend- 

38 


446  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

ly  conference  with  those  of  the  other  synod,  and  in  con- 
junction with  them,  concert  such  measures  as  shall  be  best 
calculated  to  diffuse  harmony  and  brotherly  love  through 
the  several  churches,  and  promote  the  interest  of  the  Re- 
deemer's kingdom,  and  to  make  report  of  the  whole  to  this 
synod  at  their  next  meeting.  On  motion,  resolved,  that  the 
Rev.  Doctors  John  Witherspoon,  John  Rodgers,  Alexander 
McWhorter,  Mr.  Israel  Read,  Mr.  John  Woodhull,  Mr. 
Nathan  Ker,  with  the  moderator,  (Mr.  Alexander  Miller,) 
be  appointed,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed,  delegates  on 
behalf  of  this  synod  for  the  purposes  above  mentioned." 

The  next  year  it  is  simply  recorded,  "  That  the  committee 
appointed  to  meet  committees  from  the  Reformed  Dutch 
synod,  and  the  Associate  synod  made  report  and  delivered 
the  minutes  of  the  convention  of  the  committees  of  the  three 
synods,  which  met  in  New  York  last  fall,  which  were  read." 
As  the  convention  was  to  be  biennial  no  new  appointment 
was  made  that  year;  but  in  1788,  we  find  it  stated,  that 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  Dr.  Smith,  Mr.  John  Woodhull,  Mr. 
Armstrong,  and  Mr.  Monteith,  were  appointed  delegates 
on  behalf  of  this  synod  to  meet  in  convention  with  delegates 
from  the  Low  Dutch  synod,  and  the  Associate  reformed 
synod  on  the  first  Thursday  of  next  October. 

The  preceding  account  throws  no  little  light  upon  the 
character  of  our  church  at  this  period.  It  is  evident,  not 
only  fiom  the  known  strictness  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  and 
Associate  synods,  but  also  from  the  character  of  the  profes- 
sions, pledges,  and  guarantees,  mutually  exacted,  that  tho- 
rough orthodoxy  and  strict  fidelity  to  the  standards  of 
doctrine  and  discipline,  were  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the 
intercourse  thus  established;  and  that  the  preservation  of 
that  orthodoxy  was  one  great  object  which  the  union  was 
designed  to  answer.     It  must  excite  some  surprise  even  in 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  447 

the  stricter  sort  of  presbyterians,  to  see  the  unanimity  and 
readiness  with  which  the  delegates  from  our  synod  acceded 
to  all  the  demands  made  upon  them,  and  even  consented  to 
place,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  orthodoxy  of  their  own  mem- 
bers under  the  surveillance  of  the  other  synods.  This  Avas 
carrying  the  matter  too  far  to  last  long;  but  it  shows  a  state 
of  feeling  in  our  church  which  has  long  since  departed.  Could 
an  intercourse,  such  as  was  here  provided  for,  somewhat 
modified,  have  been  preserved,  it  would  probably  have  been 
of  great  service  to  all  the  corresponding  bodies.  We  might 
have  gained  and  might  have  imparted  good,  and  the  cha- 
racter of  the  three  synods  been  modified  and  improved  by 
their  reciprocal  influence;  and  thus  these  three  great  bodies 
of  presbyterians  been  brought  into  a  more  cordial  fellowship 
with  each  other,  and  each  elevated  to  a  higher  point  of 
ecclesiastical  and  Christian  excellence. 

In  1766,  an  overture  was  presented  to  the  synod,  propo- 
sing that  they  should  "  endeavour  to  obtain  some  corres- 
pondence between  the  synod  and  the  consociated  churches 
of  Connecticut.  A  copy  of  a  letter  from  the  synod  to  them 
was  also  read  and  approved;  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  John 
Ewing,  and  Patrick  Alison,  and  the  moderator,  were  desired 
to  present  that  letter,  and  confer  with  our  brethren  on  this 
affair.  And  in  case  it  shall  seem  meet,"  it  is  added,  "  to 
our  Reverend  brethren  to  attend  to  this  our  proposal,  so  far 
as  to  appoint  commissioners  from  their  body  to  meet  with 
commissioners  from  ours;  we  appoint  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alison, 
and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Timothy  Jones,  William  Tennent, 
John  Rodgers,  Elisha  Kent,  John  Smith,  John  Blair,  and 
Samuel  Buel,  to  meet  with  them  at  such  time  and  place  as 
the  Reverend  brethren  of  Connecticut  shall  agree."  ' 

In  consequence  of  this  overture  a  convention  of  delegates 

'  Minutes,  p.  151. 


448  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

was  held  at  Elizabethtown  in  November,  1766,  and  a  plan 
of  union  between  the  congregational,  consociated,  and  pres- 
byterian  churches,  was  drawn  up  and  reported  the  next 
year  to  the  synod,  and  when  amended  was  finally  adopted 
by  both  parties.  ^     This  plan  was  very  simple,  it  provided, 

"  1.  That  a  general  convention  be  formed  of  the  congre- 
gational, consociated,  and  presbyterian  churches  in  North 
America,  consisting  of  delegates  from  each  of  their  respec- 
tive bodies,  to  meet  annually,  or  as  often  as  may  be  thought 
necessary,  and  that  the  first  general  convention  be  held  at 
New  Haven  the  day  after  their  next  annual  commence- 
ment. 

"2.  That  this  general  convention  shall  not  be  invested  with, 
nor  shall  it  at  any  time  hereafter  assume  any  power,  domi- 
nion, jurisdiction,  or  authority  over  the  churches  or  pastors, 
or  any  church  or  pastor;  nor  shall  any  counsel  or  advice  be 
asked  or  given  in  this  general  convention,  relative  to  any 
internal  debates  subsisting,  or  that  may  subsist  in  any  of 
these  bodies  thus  united;  and  it  is  particularly  agreed,  that 
the  congregational,  consociated,  and  presbyterian  churches, 
shall  subsist  entire  and  independent  of  each  other,  notwith- 
standing this  union;  retaining  their  peculiar  usages  and 
forms  of  government;  nor  shall  ever  any  attempts  be  made, 
nor  any  authority,  directly  or  indirectly,  be  used  by  this 
general  convention  to  change  or  assimilate  the  same. 

"  3.  That  the  general  design  of  this  convention  be  to 
gain  information  of  this  united  cause  and  interest;  to  collect 
accounts  relating  thereto;  to  unite  our  endeavours  and 
counsels  for  spreading  the  gospel,  and  preserving  the  reli- 
gious liberties  of  our  churches;  to  diffuse  harmony  and  to 
keep  up  a  correspondence  throughout  this  united  body,  and 
with  our  friends  abroad;  to  recommend,  cultivate,  and  pre- 

1  Minutes,  pp.  170.  180. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  449 

serve  loyalty  towards  the  king's  majesty;  and  also  address 
the  king  or  the  king's  ministers  with  assurances  of  the 
unshaken  loyalty  of  the  pastors  comprehended  in  this 
union,  and  of  the  churches  under  their  care;  and  to  vindi- 
cate them  if  unjustly  aspersed. 

"4.  That  summary  accounts  of  all  the  information  and 
transactions  in  this  general  convention  be,  from  time  to 
time,  duly  transmitted  to  all  the  associations,  presbyteries, 
or  any  other  bodies  that  shall  accede  to  or  be  included  in 
this  union."  ^ 

It  was  agreed  that  letters  should  be  written  to  the  minis- 
ters of  the  congregational  and  presbyterian  churches  in 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island,  and  to 
the  Reverend  brethren  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church,  invi- 
ting them  to  send  delegates  to  the  convention.  And  accor- 
dingly the  following  year,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Parsons  and 
McGregore  of  the  presbytery  of  Boston  did  attend;  but 
afterwards  the  convention  was  almost  exclusively  composed 
of  delegates  from  the  synod  and  the  churches  of  Connec- 
ticut. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  this  wise  plan,  there  was  no 
attempt  to  amalgamate  two  different  denominations;  to 
give  the  one  a  voice  in  the  government  of  the  other.  Every' 
thing  of  this  kind  was  carefully  provided  against.  It  was 
an  union  only  in  convention,  and  for  objects  in  which  the 
two  churches  had  a  common  interest.  This  convention  of 
delegates  continued  to  be  regularly  held  every  year  until 
the  revolutionary  war.  The  great  and  almost  the  only 
subject  which  occupied  their  attention,  was  opposition  to 
the  establishment  of  an  American  episcopate.  In  1768,  a 
letter  was  written  on  this  subject  by  the  direction  of  the 
convention  to  the  committee  in  London,  for  managing  the 

'  Minutes  of  the  Convention,  pp.  4,  5. 
38* 


450  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

civil  affairs  of  the  Dissenters,  setting  forth  their  reasons  for 
beheving  that  such  a  measure  was  in  contemplation,  and 
their  strong  objections  to  its  being  carried  into  effect.  To 
this  letter  an  answer  was  received,  in  which  the  committee 
state,  that  they  were  fully  aware  of  the  many  civil  and 
religious  inconveniences  which  would  attend  the  introduc- 
tion of  diocesan  bishops  into  America,  and  were  determined 
to  do  all  they  could  to  oppose  the  measure.  They  at  the 
same  time  informed  the  convention  that,  from  the  best 
authority  they  were  assured  the  English  government  had, 
at  that  time,  no  such  design.  The  correspondence  thus 
commenced  was  continued,  with  some  interruptions,  from 
year  to  year;  and  was  conducted  principally  through  Dr. 
Alison  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Rodgers  of  New  York,  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitman  of  Hartford.  With  the  same  general 
object  in  view,  the  convention  appointed  from  time  to  time 
committees,  to  ascertain  and  report  on  the  religious  laws  in 
force  in  the  several  colonies;  on  the  acts  of  oppression  to 
v/hich  non-episcopalians  in  any  of  the  provinces  were  sub- 
ject; and  on  the  proportion  which  the  different  denomina- 
tions bore  to  each  other  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
In  consequence  of  these  appointments,  several  valuable 
reports  were  presented  to  the  convention,  which  unhappily 
have  not  been  preserved.  In  1774,  it  is  stated  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Halsey  of  New  Jersey,  "  delivered  in  a  valuable 
detail  of  the  first  settlement  of  North  Carolina,  and  of  the 
ecclesiastical  circumstances  of  the  province  in  its  different 
periods  to  the  present  time."  Mr.  Montgomery  reported, 
that  he  had  made  some  progress  in  collecting  materials  con- 
cerning the  rise  and  progress  of  religious  liberty,  and  in 
ascertaining  the  proportion  of  dissenters  to  the  established 
church  in  Maryland;  and  Mr.  Patrick  Alison  was  requested 
to  fix  the  proportion  between  these  two  classes  on  the 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  451 

western  shore  of  that  province.  Dr.  Rodgers  stated  that  he 
expected  to  be  ready  to  report  on  New  York  to  the  next 
convention.  In  1775,  a  full  and  accurate  account  respect- 
ing Connecticut,  was  received  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Goodrich; 
and  also  an  account  of  the  number  of  episcopalians  and  non- 
episcopalians  in  that  colony;  for  which  he  received  the 
thanks  of  the  convention.  The  troubles  of  the  times  soon 
put  a  stop  to  these  labours;  and  the  convention  never  met 
after  that  year. 

It  does  not  lie  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work  to 
enter  fully,  either  into  the  history  or  the  merits  of  the  con- 
troversy respecting  an  American  episcopate.  It  will  be 
proper,  however,  to  say  enough  on  the  subject  to  enable 
the  reader,  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  propriety  of  the  course 
taken  by  the  presbyterian  church  in  so  decidedly  opposing 
the  measure.  After  several  unsuccessful  attempts  had  been 
made  at  an  earlier  period,  to  induce  the  English  govern- 
ment to  send  one  or  more  bishops  to  America,  the  effort 
was  renewed  by  a  voluntary  convention  of  the  episcopal 
clergy  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  who  prepared  a 
petition  on  the  subject  to  be  forwarded  to  Europe,  and 
requested  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bradbury  Chandler  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  to  write  and  publish  an  appeal  to  the  public  in  behalf 
of  the  measure.  This  appeal  was  published  in  1767,  and 
presents  the  claims  of  the  episcopal  church  in  this  country 
to  the  enjoyment  of  a  complete  organization  with  great 
force  and  ingenuity.  The  appeal  was  answered  by  Dr. 
Charles  Chauncey  of  Boston;  and  the  matter  soon  became 
a  subject  of  general  controversy  throughout  the  country; 
even  the  weekly  papers  were  made  the  vehicles  of  vehe- 
ment arguments  on  both  sides.  ^ 

'  Many  of  these  pieces  are  to  be  found  in  "  A  Collection  of  Tracts  from 
the  late  Newspapers,  containing  the  American  Whig,  A  Whip  for  the  Arae- 


452  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

According  to  Dr.  Chandler  it  was  proposed,  "  That  the 
bishops  to  be  sent  to  America  shall  have  no  authority  but 
purely  of  a  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  nature,  such  as  is 
derived  altogether  from  the  church  and  not  from  the  state. 
That  this  authority  shall  operate  only  upon  the  clergy  of 
the  church,  and  not  upon  the  laity  or  upon  dissenters  of  any 
denomination.  That  the  bishops  shall  not  interfere  with 
the  property  or  privileges,  whether  civil  or  religious,  of 
churchmen  or  dissenters.  That  in  particular,  they  shall 
have  no  concern  with  the  probate  of  wills,  letters  of  guar- 
dianship and  administration,  or  marriage  licenses,  nor  be 
judges  of  any  cases  relating  thereto.  But  that  they  shall 
only  exercise  the  original  powers  of  their  office,  i.  e.  ordain 
and  govern  the  clergy,  and  administer  confirmation  to  those 
Avho  shall  desire  it."  ^  Against  a  plan  so  reasonable  as  this 
it  is  difficult  to  see  what  objection  could  be  made.  As  dio- 
cesan bishops  are  an  essential  part  of  an  episcopal  church, 
necessary  to  ordain,  confirm,  and  exercise  discipline,  it 
would  seem  to  be  a  hard  case  that  the  numerous  churches 
already  formed  in  this  country,  should  be  deprived  of  this 
part  of  their  system;  that  the  clergy  should  be  without 
supervision ;  and  that  candidates  for  orders  should  be  obliged 
to  make  a  long  and  expensive  voyage  to  obtain  ordination. 
The  fact,  therefore,  that  strenuous  and  united  opposition 
was  made  to  the  introduction  of  American  bishops,  needs 
explanation.  As  far  as  the  presbyterian  church  is  con- 
cerned, we  should  be  sorry  that  it  should  lie  under  the 
imputation  of  having  resisted  the  reasonable  wishes  of  ano- 
ther denomination  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  ecclesi- 
astical system. 

rican  Whig,  &c. ;  being  controversial  articles  relating  to  protestant  bishops 
in  the  American  colonies:  New  York,  1768,  2  vols.,"  in  tlie  Philadelphia 
Library.  '  Appeal  to  the  Public,  «&c,  p.  79. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  453 

It  should  be  stated  then,  that  there  would  have  been  no 
opposition  to  the  plan  as  above  presented,  had  there  been 
any  reasonable  prospect  of  its  being  adhered  to.  Against 
bishops  who  should  derive  their  authority  "  altogether  from 
the  church  and  not  from  the  state,"  no  voice  was  raised. 
The  convention  of  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia and  the  churches  of  Connecticut,  say:  "We  would  by 
no  means  have  it  understood  as  if  we  would  endeavour  to 
prevent  an  American  bishop,  or  archbishop,  or  patriarch, 
or  whatever  else  they  might  see  fit  to  send,  provided  othet 
denominations  could  be  safe  from  their  severity  and  en- 
croachments." ^  And  Dr.  Chauncy  in  his  reply  to  the 
Appeal,  says:  "We  desire  no  other  liberty  than  to  be  left 
unrestrained  in  the  exercise  of  our  religious  principles,  in 
so  far  as  we  are  good  members  of  society.  And  we  are 
perfectly  willing  that  episcopalians  should  enjoy  this  liberty 
to  the  full.  If  they  think  bishops  in  their  appropriated 
sense,  were  constituted  by  Christ  or  his  apostles,  we  object 
not  a  word  to  their  having  as  many  of  them  as  they  please, 
if  they  will  be  content  to  have  them  with  authority  alto- 
gether derived  from  Christ.  But  they  both  claim  and  de- 
sire a  great  deal  more.  They  want  to  be  distinguished  by 
having  bishops  on  the  footing  of  a  state  establishment."  ^ 
And  again,  "  Dr.  Chandler  quite  mistakes  the  true  ground 
of  our  dissatisfaction.  It  is  not  simply  the  exercise  of  any 
of  their  religious  principles  that  would  give  us  any  uneasi- 
ness; nor  yet  the  exercise  of  them  under  as  many  purely 
scriptural  bishops  as  they  could  wish  to  have;  but  their 
having  bishops  under  a  state  establishment,  which  would 
put  them  upon  a  different  footing  from  the  other  denomina- 

'  Letter  to  the  committee  in  London,  dated  September,  1771.  Minutes  of 
the  Convention,  p.  39, 

*  Appeal  to  the  Public,  answered,  p.  180. 


454  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

tions,  and,  without  all  doubt,  sooner  or  later  expose  them 
to  many  difficulties  and  grievous  hardships."  ^  The  same 
sentiment  is  expressed  by  Dr.  Mayhew,  in  his  Observations 
on  the  charter  and  conduct  of  the  Society  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  j  and  also  by  the  Ameri- 
can Whig. 

The  opposition,  therefore,  was  not  to  bishops  with  pure- 
ly spiritual  authority,  but  to  bishops  sent  by  the  state  with 
powers  ascertained  and  determined  by  act  of  parliament. 
The  mere  fact  that  this  opposition  was  so  general,  and  that 
it  was  as  strong,  though  not  as  universal,  among  episcopa- 
lians as  among  the  members  of  other  denominations,  is  a 
proof  that  it  did  not  owe  its  origin  to  any  ungenerous 
bigotry.  If  the  Massachusetts  legislature  opposed  it,  so  did 
the  house  of  burgesses  in  Virginia.  The  former  body,  in  a 
letter  to  their  agent  in  London,  dated  January  12,  1768, 
say:  "The  establishment  of  a  protestant  episcopate  in 
America,  is  also  very  zealously  contended  for;  and  it  is 
very  alarming  to  a  people  whose  fathers,  from  the  hard- 
ships which  they  suffered  under  such  an  establishment, 
were  obliged  to  fly  from  their  native  country  into  a  wilder- 
ness, in  order  peaceably  to  enjoy  their  privileges,  civil  and 
religious.  Their  being  threatened  with  the  loss  of  both  at 
once  must  throw  them  into  a  very  disagreeable  situation. 
We  hope  in  God  such  an  establishment  will  never  take 
place  in  America,  and  we  desire  you  would  strenuously 
oppose  it."  ^  In  Virginia,  when  a  convention  was  called 
to  consider  the  propriety  of  petitioning  for  a  bishop,  only 
twelve  out  of  a  hundred  ministers  in  the  province  attended, 
and  of  those  twelve  four  protested  against  the  decision  to 
forward  a  petition.    And  soon  after  the  house  of  burgesses, 

'  Appeal  to  the  Public,  answered,  p.  189. 
2  See  American  Whig,  vol.  i.  p.  67. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  455 

by  an  unanimous  vote,  thanked  the  protesters  "  for  the  wise 
and  well  timed  opposition  they  had  made  to  the  pernicious 
project  of  a  few  mistaken  clergymen  for  introducing  an 
American  bishop."  ^  If  any  thing  more  is  necessary  to 
show  the  character  of  this  opposition,  it  may  be  found  in 
the  fact,  that  as  soon  as  this  country  was  separated  from 
England,  and  thus  all  fear  of  the  civil  power  of  the  bishops 
removed,  all  objection  to  their  introduction  was  withdrawn. 
This  apprehension  of  danger  to  the  religious  liberty  of 
the  country  was  not  a  feverish  dread  of  imaginary  evils. 
It  was  even  better  founded  than  the  apprehension  of  dan- 
ger to  our  civil  liberties  from  the  claim  of  the  British  par- 
liament to  a  right  to  tax  the  country.  As  the  episcopal 
church  was  established  in  England,  and  as  those  who  had 
the  control  of  the  government  were  members  of  that  church, 
the  episcopalians  in  America  were  naturally  led  to  be  con- 
stantly looking  for  state  patronage  and  legal  support.  They 
claimed  it  as  a  right,  that  the  support  and  extension  of  the 
episcopal  church  in  this  country  should  be  made  a  national 
concern.  Even  Dr.  Chandler,  although  his  work  was  writ- 
ten to  disarm  prejudice  and  allay  apprehensions,  could  not 
avoid  letting  this  be  distinctly  seen.  "  It  has  been  the  prac- 
tice of  all  Christian  nations,"  he  tells  us,  "to  provide  for 
and  maintain  the  national  religion,  and  to  render  it  as  res- 
pectable as  possible  in  the  most  distant  colonies;"  and, 
"  as  some  religion  has  ever  been  thought,  by  the  wisest 
legislators,  to  be  necessary  for  the  security  of  civil  govern- 
ment, and  accordingly  has  always  been  interwoven  into  the 
constitution  of  it,  so  in  every  nation  that  religion  which  is 
thus  distinguished,  must  be  looked  upon  as,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  legislature,  the   best  fitted  for  this  great  purpose. 

'  Dr.  Hawks'  Contributions  to  tlie  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United 
States,  vol.  i.  p.  127—130. 


456  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

Wherever,  therefore,  the  national  religion  is  not  made  in 
some  degree  a  national  concern,  it  will  commonly  be  consi- 
dered as  an  evidence  that  those  who  have  the  direction  of 
the  national  affairs  do  not  esteem  their  religion;  or  that 
they  are  negligent  of  the  duty  they  owe  to  God,  and  the 
public,  as  guardians  of  its  happiness."  He  then  proceeds 
to  give  the  reasons  why  "  the  church  of  England  in  Ame- 
rica appears  not  hitherto  to  have  been  made  a  national  con- 
cern;" reasons  which,  he  says,  may  account  for,  although 
not  altogether  excuse  this  neglect.  ^  It  was  this  very  thing, 
w^hich  Dr.  Chandler  considered  so  much  a  matter  of  course, 
that  other  denominations  deprecated  and  dreaded.  They 
denied  the  right  of  the  British  government  thus  to  distin- 
guish the  episcopal  church,  especially  in  the  northern  pro- 
vinces, where  its  members,  even  at  this  period,  hardly  con- 
stituted the  thirtieth  part  of  the  population.  They  denied 
the  fairness  of  its  being  made  a  national  concern  to  the 
detriment  and  oppression  of  other  denominations.  The 
whole  history  of  the  country  showed  that  the  authorities 
in  England  acted  constantly  on  the  plan  of  giving  the  church 
of  England,  in  this  country,  all  the  ascendency  that  cpuld 
with  safety  be  secured  for  it.  In  those  colonies  where  the 
thing  was  possible,  that  church  was  established  by  law;  in 
others,  the  public  were  taxed  for  its  support,  or  national 
property  assigned  for  its  maintenance. 

In  South  Carolina,  according  to  Dr.  Ramsay,  the  presby- 
terians  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  the  country;  and,  in 
connexion  with  the  independents,  they  organized  a  church 
in  1690,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  a 
presbytery  was  formed  agreeably  to  the  principles  and 
practice  of  the  church  of  Scotland.  ^    The  episcopalians  had 

'  Appeal,  p.  44 — 47. 

2  History  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  ii,  p.  25. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  457 

no  minister  until  1701  ;i  and,  in  1710,  formed  less  than  a 
half  of  the  population;  ^  though  even  then  several  of  the 
French  presbyterian  churches  had  gone  over  to  them.  Yet 
in  1696,  provision  was  made  by  law  for  an  episcopal  clergy- 
man, in  Charleston,  who  was  to  be  allowed  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  sterling  a  year,  together  with  a  house, 
glebe,  and  two  servants.  As  nothing  was  yet  said  of  an 
establishment,  this  law  excited  little  dissatisfaction.  Soon 
after,  however,  the  church  of  England  was  fully  establish- 
ed; a  salary  of  one  hundred  pounds  out  of  the  public  trea- 
sury was  allowed  to  each  of  its  ministers,  and  all  denomi- 
nations were  taxed  for  building  its  churches.  ^  In  1703,  a 
law  was  passed  which  "  required  every  man  who  should 
be  chosen  a  member  of  the  assembly  to  take  the  oaths  and 
subscribe  the  declaration  appointed,  to  conform  to  the  reli- 
gion and  worship  of  the  church  of  England;  and  to  receive 
the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  rites  and  usages  of  that 
church."  ^  The  proprietors  inserted  a  clause  into  the  con- 
stitution of  the  colony  to  the  following  effect:  "As  the 
country  comes  to  be  sufficiently  planted,  it  shall  belong  to 
the  parliament  to  take  care  for  the  building  of  churches, 
and  the  public  maintenance  of  divines  to  be  employed  in 
the  exercise  of  religion  according  to  the  church  of  England, 
which  being  the  only  true  and  orthodox,  and  the  national 
church  of  all  the  kmg's  dominions,  is  so  also  of  Carolina; 
and,  therefore,  it  alone  shall  be  allowed  to  receive  public 
maintenance  by  act  of  parliament."  ^  The  result,  there- 
fore, in  Carolina,   of  making  the  church    of  England  a 

'  Humphrey's  History  of  the  Society  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
foreign  parts,  p.  25. 

2  Letter  from  South  CaroHna,  dated  1710,  quoted  above,  chap.  ii.  p.  85. 

3  Hewitt's  History  of  Carolina,  vol.  i.  p.  140. 

'  Hewitt,  vol.  i.  p.  166.  5  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  46,  47. 

39 


458  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

national  concern,  was,  that  other  denominations  were  not 
only  taxed  for  its  support,  but  were  also  debarred  from  a 
seat  in  the  legislature. 

As  Virginia  was  more  of  an  episcopal  colony  from  the 
beginning,  there  was  less  ground  of  complaint  for  the  mere 
establishment  of  the  English  church.  The  severity  of  her 
ecclesiastical  laws,  however,  admits  of  no  justification.  In 
1618,  it  was  enacted,  "that  every  person  should  go  to 
church  on  Sundays  and  holydays,  or  lie  neck  and  heels  that 
night,  and  be  a  slave  to  the  colony  the  following  week. 
For  a  second  offence,  he  should  be  a  slave  for  a  month; 
and,  for  a  third,  a  year  and  a  day."  *  In  1 624,  a  law  requir- 
ing strict  conformity,  as  near  as  might  be,  in  substance  and 
circumstance,  to  the  canons  of  the  church  of  England,  was 
passed.  And  in  1642,  it  was  enacted  that  no  minister 
should  officiate  within  the  province  who  could  not  produce 
a  certificate  of  his  ordination  by  some  English  bishop,  and 
promise  to  conform  to  the  orders  and  constitution  of  the 
church  of  England;  and  the  governor  and  council  were 
authorized  to  compel  any  one  who  transgressed  this  law  to 
depart  the  country.  ^  Severe  laws  also  were  passed  against 
the  qnakers,  and  subsequently  against  the  baptists.  Even 
the  rights  guarantied  by  the  Virginia  act  of  toleration,  were 
repeatedly  violated  in  the  case  of  presbyterians.  Before 
the  revolutionary  war  the  dissenters  had  increased  so  much 
that  it  is  said  the  episcopalians  did  not  constitute  more  than 
one-third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  province.^     Yet  even  in 

'  Stith's  History,  p.  J  48.  -  Laws  of  Virginia,  p.  3. 

3  This  statement  is  given  by  Dr.  Hawks,  p.  140,  who  quotes  as  authori- 
ties,  4  Burk. p.  180;  1  Jefferson's  Works,  p.  31.  Tlie  doctor,  however,  thinks 
there  are  circumstances  whicli  would  seem  to  render  the  statement  doubtful. 
All  such  estimates,  in  the  absence  of  any  regular  census,  niust  be  more  or 
less  uncertain.  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  the  above  account  that  needs 
excite  surprise.    The  number  of  episcopalians  had  long  ceased  to  be  increased 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  459 

those  parishes  in  which  there  were  very  few  members  of 
the  estabUshed  church,  the  dissenters  were  obhged  to  pur- 
chase glebes,  build  churches,  and  make  provision  for  the 
support  of  the  clergy.  This  was  felt  to  be  a  great  grievance 
in  a  new  country,  and  among  a  poor  people.  It  is  promi- 
nently presented  as  an  unreasonable  burden  in  the  memo- 
rial presented  to  the  legislature  by  the  presbytery  of  Hano- 
ver, in  1776.  ^  The  conduct  of  some  of  the  New  England 
provinces  in  reference  to  the  episcopal  dissenters  within 
their  bounds,  was  very  different.  They  were  relieved 
from  all  payments  in  support  of  the  "  standing  churches," 
when  they  were  an  inconsiderable  minority  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

The  early  ecclesiastical  history  of  Maryland  is  very 
much  of  a  riddle.  From  all  that  appears,  however,  it  may 
be  fairly  referred  to  as  affording  another  example  of  the 
church  of  the  minority  being,  by  the  force  of  the  authorities 
in  England,  made  the  established  religion  of  the  province. 
Maryland,  though  originally  settled  by  Roman  catholics, 
was  soon  furnished  with  a  population  of  a  very  mixed  reli- 
gious character.  When  the  proprietary  government  was 
overthrown,  in  1651,  the  first  act  of  the  legislature  was  to 
pass  an  intolerant  law  denying  even  protection  to  the  Catho- 
lics, and  granting  liberty  of  conscience  and  worship  to  such 
as  professed  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  provided  this 

by  new  accessions  from  the  mother  country.  The  great  influx  of  settlers  was 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  consisted  of  German  and  Scotch-Irish.  The  estab- 
lished church  had  suffered  a  great  diminution  of  numbers  by  the  rise  of  the 
presbyterians,  even  in  the  eastern  counties;  and  subsequently,  a  still  greater 
loss  by  the  rise  of  the  baptists,  who  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  were  a 
large  and  influential  party.  Other  denominations,  therefore,  had  been  for 
years  increasing,  while  the  episcopalians  were  decreasing. 

1  Illustration  of  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Virginia.    By  John  II.  Rice.    Richmond,  1816. 


460  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

liberty  was  not  extended  to  popery  and  j)Telacy.  ^  At  this 
period,  therefore,  the  episcopahans  must  have  been  in  the 
minority.  Five  and  twenty  years  later  they  were  still  very 
inconsiderable  in  numbers.  Under  the  date  1676,  Dr. 
Hawks  remarks:  "Hitherto  our  narrative  has  been  silent 
with  respect  to  the  protestant  episcopal  church  in  Mary- 
land. The  reason  is  obvious,  for  though  there  were  mem- 
bers of  that  church  living  within  the  province,  yet  they 
were  not  numerous."  ^  Notwithstanding  their  fewness 
they  complained  that  no  provision  was  made  by  law  for 
the  support  of  their  clergy.  These  complaints  were  refer- 
red by  the  bishop  of  London  to  the  committee  of  planta- 
tions, who  called  Lord  Baltimore,  (who  had  before  this 
been  restored  to  his  authority,)  to  account  on  the  subject. 
His  lordship  answered,  that  all  denominations  were  upon  a 
level  in  Maryland,  and  that  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  get  the  assembly  to  make  a  law  obliging 
any  denomination  of  Christians  to  support  other  ministers 
than  their  own.  ^  "This  answer,"  says  Dr.  Hawks,  "did 
seem  to  satisfy  the  committee,  for  they  declared  that,  in 
their  opinion,  there  should  be  some  maintenance  for  the 
clergy  of  the  church,  and  that  his  lordship  should  propose 
means  for  the  support  of  a  competent  number."  The  revo- 
lution of  1688,  which  placed  William  HI.  upon  the  throne 
of  England,  led  to  a  similar  revolution  in  Maryland.     In 

1691,  Maryland  was  made  a  royal  government;  and,  in 

1692,  the  church  of  England  was  established;  the  country 
was  divided  into  thirty  parishes,  and  provision  made  for 
building  churches,  and  for  the  support  of  the  clergy.  It  can 
hardly  be  supposed  that  such  a  sudden  revolution  had  oc- 
curred in  the  religious  sentiments  of  the  people,  that  the 
episcopalians,  who  were  so  few  in  1676,  had  become  the 

1  Hawks,  vol.  ii.  p.  42.  2  ibid.  p.  47.  ^  ibid.  p.  51. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  461 

majority  of  the  population  in  1G92.  In  1694,  the  new- 
governor  "found  but  three  clergymen  on  his  arrival;  and 
they,"  it  is  added,  "  had  been  able  to  remain,  only  because 
they  were  possessed  of  property  to  support  them:  these 
three  had  to  contend  with  double  their  number  of  priests 
belonging  to  the  church  of  Rome.  '  There  was  also  a  sort 
of  wandering  pretenders  to  preaching,  that  came  from  New 
England  and  other  places,  which  deluded  not  only  the  pro- 
testant  dissenters  from  our  church,  but  many  churchmen 
themselves,  by  their  extemporary  prayers  and  preachments, 
for  which  they  were  admitted  by  the  people,  and  got 
money  of  them.'  "  ^  There  can  be  little  doubt,  therefore, 
that  the  episcopalians,  compared  to  the  catholics  and  pro- 
testant  dissenters,  were  a  minority  of  the  people.  Their 
connexion,  however,  with  the  government  at  home  gave 
them  an  ascendency,  and  the  whole  province  was  taxed 
for  the  support  of  their  worship. 

However  burdensome  upon  dissenters  the  laws  for  the 
support  of  the  church  of  England  may  have  been,  there  was 
less  ground  of  complaint  in  reference  to  those  colonies  where 
that  church  was  established  by  colonial  legislation,  on  the 
part  of  those  dissenters  who  entered  them  after  those  laws 
were  enacted.  They  knew  what  they  had  to  expect,  and 
acted  with  their  eyes  open.  We  must  look  to  those  pro- 
vinces where  the  episcopal  church  was  not  established,  and 
notice  the  claims  of  its  members,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
authorities  of  England  in  relation  to  it,  if  we  would  learn 
their  true  spirit  and  purpose  at  this  period.  In  the  pro- 
vinces north  of  Maryland,  the  episcopaUans,  even  so  late  as 
1767,  8,  when  they  had  greatly  increased,  principally  by 
the  accession  of  proselytes,  did  not  constitute  the  thirtieth 

'  Hawks,  vol.  ii.  p.  77. 
39* 


462  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

of  the  population.  ^  In  New  York  they  were  about  the 
twentietli;  or,  towards  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the 
twenty-fifth.  Notwithstanding  this  great  inferiority  in  num- 
bers, and  notwithstanding  these  provinces  were  settled  by 

•  In  1768,  tliere  were  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  three  episcopal 
churches  which  supported  themselves,  and  nineteen  missionaries  supported 
by  the  society  in  England.  In  New  York  there  were  three  churches  self- 
supported,  and  eleven  missionaries ;  in  New  England  three  churches  which 
sustained  themselves,  and  thirty  missionaries.  Chauncy's  answer  to  Chand- 
ler's Appeal,  p.  113.  Dr.  Chauncy  concedes,  that  taking  in  vacant  congre- 
gations and  scattered  families,  the  number  of  episcopalians  in  the  northern 
provinces,  might  be  estimated  at  equal  to  one  hundred  and  four  congregations. 
He  allows  fifty  families  to  each  congregation,  which  he  says  episcopalians 
would  admit  to  be  a  large  allowance,  and  five  members  to  a  family,  and  thus 
brings  out  twenty-six  thousand  as  his  estimate  of  episcopalians  in  those  pro- 
vinces, which  he  adds  "  is  a  mere  handful  compared  with  more  than  a  million 
persons,  which,  without  dispute,  live  within  those  bounds." 

As  to  the  increase  of  the  church  principally  by  proselytes,  the  fact  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  by  Humphrey  in  his  History  of  the  Society  for  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel ;  and  Dr.  Chandler,  in  his  Appeal  Defended,  published  in 
17G8,  says,  "As  to  Connecticut,  of  which  I  can  judge  from  my  own  obser- 
vation, the  church  has  increased  there  mo^t  amazingly  for  twenty  or  thirty 
years  past.  I  cannot  at  present  recollect  an  example,  in  any  age  or  country, 
wherein  so  great  a  proportion  of  proselytes  has  been  made  to  any  religion  in 
so  short  a  time,  as  has  been  made  to  the  church  of  England  in  the  western 
division  of  that  populous  colony ;  unless  where  the  power  of  miracles  or  the 
arm  of  the  magistrate  was  exerted  to  produce  that  effect "  p.  217.  This 
agrees  with  what  Edwards  says  in  a  letter  written  in  1750,  viz:  that  the 
episcopal  church  had  trebled  itself  in  New  England  within  seven  years. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  information  from  an  unexceptionable  source,  as  to 
the  state  of  the  episcopal  church  in  this  country,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century,  contained  in  the  memorials  of  Governor  Dudley,  Colonel  Morris, 
and  Colonel  Heathcoate,  presented  to  the  Society  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  and  quoted  by  Humphrey,  in  his  history  of  that  society.  "In  South 
Carolina  there  were  computed  seven  thousand  souls,  besides  negroes  and  In- 
dians, living  without  any  minister  of  the  church  of  England,  and  but  few  dis- 
senting teachers  of  any  kind;  above  half  living  regardless  of  any  religion. 
In  North  Carolina  above  five  thousand  souls  without  any  minister,  any  reli- 


IX    THE    UNITED    STATES.  463 

Other  denominations,  and  with  the  exception  of  New  York, 
were  either  charter  or  proprietary  governments,  yet  the 
conduct  of  the  royal  governors,  the  demands  of  the  epis- 
copal clergy,  and  the  action  of  the  authorities  in  England, 
all  showed  a  purpose  to  gain  and  secure,  .ic  h::  and  as  fast 
as  possible,  an  ascendency  for  the  church  of  EngL.id,  and 
furnished  abundant  reason  ibr  the  anxious  apprehension  of 
the  people  for  their  religious  liberty. 

gious  ministrations  used,  no  public  worship  celebrated,  neither  the  children 
baptized,  nor  the  dead  buried  in  any  Christian  form.  Virginia  contained 
about  forty  thousand  souls  divided  into  forty  parishes,  but  wanting  near  half 
the  number  of  clergymen  requisite.  Maryland  contained  about  twenty-five 
thousand,  divided  into  twenty-six  parishes,  but  wanting  also  about  half  the 
number  of  ministers  requisite.  In  Pennsylvania  there  are  about  twenty 
thousand  souls,  of  whom  about  seven  hundred  frequent  the  church,  and  there 
are  not  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants.  The  two  Jerseys 
contain  about  fifteen  thousand,  of  whom  not  above  six  hundred  frequent  the 
chiu-ch,  nor  have  they  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants.  In 
New  York  government  we  have  thirty  thousand  souls  at  least,  of  whom 
about  twelve  hundred  frequent  the  church,  and  we  have  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty  communicants.  In  Connecticut  colony  in  New  England,  there  are 
about  thirty  thousand  souls,  of  whom,  when  they  have  a  minister  among 
them,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  frequent  the  church,  and  there  are  thirty- 
five  communicants.  In  Rhode  Island  and  Narragansett,  which  is  one  govern- 
ment, there  are  about  ten  thousand  souls,  of  which,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  frequent  the  church,  and  there  are  thirty  communicants.  In  Boston 
and  Piscataway  government,  there  are  about  eiglity  thousand  souls,  of  whom 
about  six  hundred  frequent  the  church,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  the 
sacrament.  In  Newfoundland  there  are  five  hundred  families  constantly 
living  in  the  place,  and  many  thousands  of  occasional  inhabitants,  and  no  sort 
of  public  Christian  worship  used.  This  is  the  true  though  melancholy  state 
of  our  church  in  North  America ;  and  whosoever  sends  any  other  accounts 
more  in  her  favour,  are  certainly  under  mistakes;  nor  can  I  take  them,  (if 
they  do  it  knowingly,)  to  be  friends  to  the  church;  for  if  the  distemper  be 
not  rightly  known  and  understood,  proper  remedies  can  never  be  applied:" 
pp.  41 — 43.  According  to  this  estimate  there  were  one  hundred  and  eighty, 
five  thousand  inhabitants  in  the  northern  provinces,  of  whom  three  thousand 
four  hundred,  or  less  than  one  in  fifty-four,  were  episcopalians. 


464  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

The  fundamental  assumption  on  which  the  conduct  of 
the  parties  above  mentioned  rested,  was  that  the  episcopal 
church  was  the  national  established  church  in  all  the  king's 
dominions,  Scotland  only,  and  not  the  colonies,  excepted; 
that  other  denominations  were  merely  tolerated,  and  con- 
sequently were  entitled  to  nothing  more  than  the  act  of 
toleration  allowed  them;  whereas  the  church  of  England 
was  entitled  to  a  legal  provision,  to  national  support,  and 
the  exclusive  favour  and  patronage  of  the  government. 
This  ground  was  taken  more  or  less  openly,  on  different 
occasions  and  by  different  persons,  according  to  their  dispo- 
sition or  discretion;  and  it  was  the  only  ground  on  which 
the  language  of  the  most  cautious  could  be  either  justified 
or  explained.  At  times  this  position  was  assumed  with 
perfect  plainness.  A  writer  who  stiles  himself  a  member 
of  the  Society  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  foreign 
parts,  undertakes  to  demonstrate  first,  that  the  churches  in 
New  England  were  not,  and  secondly,  that  the  episcopal 
church  was  there  established.  With  regard  to  this  second 
point  he  says,  "  Though  it  is  undeniably  manifest  that  the 
church  of  England  is  established  by  the  act  of  union, 
(between  England  and  Scotland,)  yet  it  may  not  be  so 
clear  that  this  establishment  actually  took  place  before  that 
time."  To  show,  however,  that  it  took  place  from  the 
very  settlement  of  the  country,  he  quotes  another  episcopal 
writer  who  says,  "The  Christian  religion, as  by  its  evidence 
and  intrinsic  excellence,  it  recommended  itself  to  the  Eng- 
lish government,  so  it  became  by  law  the  religion  of  the 
English  nation;  and  the  church  of  England  likewise  became 
by  law  their  national  church;  and  when  any  part  of  the 
English  nation  spread  abroad  into  colonies,  as  they  con- 
tinued part  of  the  nation,  the  law  obliged  them  equally  to 
the  church  of  England  and  the  Christian  religion.     And  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  465 

Statutes  for  the  establishment  of  the  service,  ordination,  and 
articles  of  this  church,  made  and  confirmed  before  and  at  the 
union  of  the  two  kingdoms,  settle  and  establish  it  alike  in 
the  dominions  of  England,  and  in  the  realm  itself."  This 
writer  then  quotes  various  acts  of  parliament  made  in  the 
reigns  of  Edward  VI.,  Elizabeth,  and  Charles  II.,  in  which 
repeated  use  is  made  of  the  phrase  "his  majesty's  domi- 
nions," as  fixing  the  limits  of  the  established  church,  ^  The 
great  reliance,  however,  of  these  writers  was  upon  the  act 
of  union.  In  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Anne,  "  It  was  enacted, 
that  all  acts  of  parliament  then  in  force,  for  the  establish- 
ment and  preservation  of  the  church  of  England,  and  the 
doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  thereof,  should 
remain  and  be  in  full  force  for  ever;  and  that  every  king 
and  queen  succeeding  to  the  royal  government  of  the  king- 
dom of  Great  Britain,  at  his  or  her  coronation,  should  take 
and  subscribe  an  oath  to  maintain  and  preserve  inviolably, 
the  said  settlement  of  the  church  of  England,  and  the  doc- 
trine, worship,  disciphne,  and  government  thereof,  as  by 
law  established  within  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Ire- 
land, the  dominion  of  Wales,  and  the  town  of  Berwick 
on  Tweed,  and  the  territories  thereunto  belonging."  ^  As 
the  North  American  colonies  were  territories  belonging  to 
the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  it  was  confidently  inferred  that 
the  church  of  England  was  established  here  by  this  act,  if 
never  before. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore  of  Connecticut,  took  the  same 
ground,  with  equal  decision  and  greater  insolence.  "  Men," 
he  says,  "  not  only  consistently  with  their  duty  may,  but 

1  A  Candid  Examination  of  Dr.  Mayhew's  observations  on  the  charter 
and  conduct  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation,  &c ;  by  a  member  of  the 
society.     Boston,  1763,  p.  34.  vol.  417.  of  Dr.  Sprague's  collection. 

2  Candid  Examination,  p.  37, 


466  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

to  discharge  their  duty,  must  be  of  the  commviiiion  of  the 
church  of  England,  if  they  are  members  of  the  nation  of 
England."  '  In  reference  to  the  charge  of  schism,  which 
had  been  brought  against  the  episcopal  proselytes  in  Con- 
necticut, he  says,  "  If  the  congregations,  the  forsaking  of 
which  is  called  schism,  be  themselves  founded  in  schism 
and  unjustifiable  separation  from  the  communion  of  the 
church  of  England;  or  in  their  present  constitution  must 
necessarily  be  esteemed  abettors  and  approvers  of  schism, 
disorders,  usurpation,  contempt  of  the  chief  authority  Christ 
has  left  in  his  church,  or  any  such  like  crimes,  then  such 
congregations,  whatever  they  may  call  themselves,  and 
whatever  show  they  may  make  of  piety  and  devotion  in 
their  own  ways,  ought  to  be  esteemed  in  respect  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  only  as  excrescences  or  tumors  in 
the  body  natural,  or  perhaps  as  fungosities  in  an  ulcerated 
tumor,  the  eating  away  of  which  by  whatever  means  tends 
not  to  the  hurt,  but  to  the  soundness  and  health  of  the 
body."  2  In  another  place  he  says,  on  the  assumption  that 
the  constitution  of  the  national  church  is  regular  and  good, 
"  It  may  surely  be  urged  on  every  man  that  is  English,  that 
belongs  to  this  nation,  and  is  properly  a  part  of  it,  in  what- 
ever corner  of  it  he  may  live,  that  his  duty  obliges  him  to 
be  of  the  communion  of  the  church  of  England."^  And 
again,  "  Every  one  who  makes  a  part  of  this  nation  owes 
reverence  and  submission  to  them,  (the  bishops,)  under 
Christ,  and  may  esteem  our  Saviour's  words  to  his  disciples 
applicable  to  such  prelates;  'He  that  despiseth  you  despis- 
eth  me.'  "  ■*     The  awful  crime  of  schism  begun  in  England, 

'  A  Vindication  of  the  Professors  of  the  church  of  England  in  Connecticut, 
&c. ;  by  James  Wctmore,  Rector  of  the  parish  of  Rye,  and  Missionary  of  the 
Venerable  Society,  &,c.     Boston,  1747,  p.  6.  Dr.  Sprague's  Collection,  vol.  414. 

2  Ibid.  p.  29.  3  Ibid.  p.  37.  <  Ibid.  p.  38. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  457 

he  argues,  could  not  be  washed  away  by  crossing  the 
ocean,  into  "  a  new  country  dependent  on,  and  a  part  of  the 
nation  of  England."  ^  The  doctrine  of  this  whole  Tract  is, 
that  the  church  of  England  is  the  established  church  of  the 
nation  of  England;  the  colonies  are  a  part  of  that  nation, 
and  therefore  are  bound  not  only  morally  but  legally  to 
be  of  the  communion  of  that  church,  or  to  take  the  benefit 
of  the  act  of  toleration. 

This  was  the  doctrine  not  merely  of  heated  partisans,  but 
of  men  in  high  stations  and  authority.  It  has  already  been 
stated,  that  the  proprietors  of  South  Carolina  distinctly 
assumed  this  ground.  "  The  church  of  England  being  the 
only  true,  and  orthodox,  and  national  church,  of  all  the 
king's  dominions,  is  so  also  of  Carolina."  And  they  drew 
from  the  principle  the  legitimate  inference,  when  they  added, 
"  And  therefore  it  alone  shall  be  allowed  to  receive  public 
maintenance  by  grant  of  parliament,"  i.  e.  the  provincial 
parliament. 

When  Lord  Cornbury  was  made  governor  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  in  1702,  he  was  instructed  and  enjoined 
by  the  government,  to  take  special  care  that  the  book  of 
common  prayer,  as  by  law  established,  should  be  read 
every  Sunday  and  holyday,  and  the  blessed  sacrament  ad- 
ministered according  to  the  rites  of  the  church  of  England; 
that  churches  should  be  repaired,  or  built;  that  a  competent 
maintenance  be  provided  for  the  clergy,  with  a  house  and 
glebe  in  each  parish,  all  at  the  common  charge;  and  he  was 
forbidden  to  prefer  any  man  to  any  benefice  who  had  not  a 
certificate  from  the  bishop  of  London.  ^  These  instructions 
related  to  colonies  in  one  of  which  the  episcopalians,  at  that 
time,  were   six  hundred  to  fifteen   thousand,  and  in  the 

•  A  vindication,  &c.  &c.  p.  40. 

2  See  his  instructions  in  Smith's  History  of  New  Jersey,  p.  252. 


468  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Other,  twelve  hundred  to  thirty  thousand.  Lord  Cornbury 
acted  up  to  these  directions  with  a  zeal  which  even  his 
most  determined  friends  must  have  thought  indiscreet.  Our 
limits  forbid  our  entering  upon  details,  which  is  less  neces- 
sary, as  the  complaints  and  apprehensions  of  the  non-epis- 
copal inhabitants  of  the  colonies  were  not  founded  on  mere 
specific  acts  of  injustice  or  oppression,  so  much  as  upon 
the  avowed  or  tacit  adoption  of  the  principle,  that  the 
English  ecclesiastical  laws  extended  to  this  country.  This 
assumption  was  openly  made  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  McKemie 
was  imprisoned  by  the  order  of  Lord  Cornbury  for  preach- 
ing in  New  York.  On  his  trial,  he  was  charged  by  the 
attorney  general  with  contemning  the  queen's  ecclesiasti- 
cal supremacy;  with  using  other  rites  and  ceremonies  than 
those  contained  in  the  common  prayer  book;  with  preach- 
ing without  proper  qualification,  at  an  illegal  conventi- 
cle, all  which  was  declared  to  be  contrary  to  the  English 
statutes.  ^ 

The  same  principle  was  assumed  in  the  case  of  the  appli- 
cation of  the  presbyterian  church  in  New  York  for  a  char- 
ter. Their  petition  was  opposed  by  the  vestry  of  Trinity 
church,  on  the  ground  that  it  could  not  be  granted  consis- 
tently with  the  acts  of  uniformity,  nor  with  the  king's  coro- 
nation oath,  by  which  he  was  bound  to  uphold  the  church 
of  England,  not  only  in  England  and  Ireland,  but  in  all  the 
territories  thereunto  belonging.  The  provincial  authorities 
considered  this  too  grave  a  question  for  them  to  decide, 
and  therefore  referred  it  to  the  government  at  home.  The 
bishop  of  London  appeared  repeatedly  before  the  commit- 
tee of  the  privy  council  in  opposition  to  the  petition,  and  it 
was  finally  decided  that,  without  expressing  an  opinion  as 
to  these  legal  questions,  it  was  on  grounds  of  general  policy 

1  Smith's  History  of  New  York,  p.  128. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  469 

inexpedient  to  grant  the  presbyterians  any  greater  privi- 
leges than  they  were  entitled  to  by  the  act  of  toleration. 
This  was  virtually  a  decision  of  the  whole  case,  for  it 
assumed  that  act  to  be  in  force  in  New  York,  which,  from 
its  nature  was  impossible,  unless  the  acts  of  uniformity, 
from  whose  penalties  it  provided  exemption,  were  also  in 
force.  Hence  Dr.  Chauncy  had  good  reason  to  say,  "  That 
decision  was  an  alarm  to  all  the  colonies  on  the  continent, 
giving  them  solemn  notice  what  they  might  expect  should 
episcopalians  ever  come  to  have  the  superiority  in  their 
influence."  '  And  what  does  Dr.  Chandler  say  to  this  case  ? 
"  How  far,"  he  says,  "  the  grant  would  have  interfered 
with  the  king's  coronation  oath,  it  becomes  me  not  to  say; 
those  to  whom  it  was  referred  were  the  proper  judges;  and 
in  their  opinion  the  petition  could  not  consistently  be  grant- 
ed. It  is  the  unquestionable  duty  of  his  majesty's  most 
honourable  privy  council,  to  advise  him  against  whatever 
is  thought  by  tliem  to  imply  a  breach  of  the  coronation 
oath;  it  is  a  duty  more  peculiarly  incumbent  upon  any  such 
bishops  as  Iiis  majesty  thinks  fit  to  call  up  to  that  high 
trust.  If,  therefore,  the  bishop  of  London,  upon  the  above 
principle,  was  more  active  than  others  in  opposing  the 
measure,  it  was  because  his  station  required  it.  If  general 
policy,  in  the  opinion  of  the  lords  of  trade,  was  also  against 
the  grant,  they  were  obliged  to  discountenance  it;  and  the 
petitioners,  I  conceive,  ought  to  rest  satisfied,  especially  as 
it  was  a  m.ere  favour  which  was  requested,  and  more  than 
was  thought  to  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  toleration.  I  have 
been  moreover  told,  that,  besides  the  reasons  assigned,  a 
particular  policy  with  regard  to  the  presbyterians  in  New 
York,  concurred  to  defeat  the  petition.  It  was  the  belief  at 
home,  that  the  church  of  England  had  been  treated  with 

1  Chauncy 's  Reply  to  the  Appeal  Delcntlcd,  p.  179. 
40 


470  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

peculiar  malevolence  by  some  of  those  very  persons  whose 
names  were  annexed  to  that  petition.  It  was,  therefore, 
not  unnatural  to  suspect  that  any  additional  power  put  into 
the  hands  of  such  persons,  would,  as  opportunity  should 
offer,  be  exerted  against  the  church."  ^  This  dread  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  presbyterians  is  peculiarly  edifying, 
when  it  is  remembered  that  the  power  asked  for  was  the 
right  to  hold  their  church  and  grave-yard  in  their  own 
name,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  vest  them  in  the  general 
assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland.  If  episcopalians,  who 
claimed  all  the  power  and  privileges  granted  by  the  Eng- 
lish laws  to  the  church  of  England,  might  dread  such  a 
power  as  that,  surely  presbyterians  may  be  excused  for 
standing  a  little  in  awe  of  them. 

We  see  from  the  above  extract  that  Dr.  Chandler  yield- 
ed a  very  cordial  assent  to  the  decision  that  the  king's  coro- 
nation oath  bound  him  to  consider  the  acts,  by  which  the 
church  of  England  was  established,  as  extending  to  the 
colonies;  and  that  he  took  it  for  granted  the  act  of  tolera- 
tion was  the  measure  of  the  liberties  and  privileges  of  the 
non-episcopal  churches  in  America.  The  coronation  oath 
was  founded  on  the  act  of  union  between  England  and 
Scotland.  At  the  time  of  the  union,  the  Scotch  stipulated 
that  the  united  parliament  should  have  no  power  to  disturb 
their  ecclesiastical  constitution;  and  the  English  stipulated 
that  each  succeeding  sovereign  should  swear  to  maintain 
the  church  of  England  as  by  law  established.  The  object, 
therefore,  of  the  act  in  question  was  to  protect  the  church 
of  England,  and  not  to  establish  it  where  it  did  not  then 
exist.  Such  being  its  design,  it  will  be  seen  how  monstrous 
was  the  assumption,  that  it  upset  all  the  charters  of  the 
New  England  colonies;  rendered  void   all  the  contracts 

>  The  Appeal  Defended,  by  Dr.  Chandler,  p.  234. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  471 

with  the  proprietary  governments;  nulHfied  all  the  colonial 
laws  relating  to  ecclesiastical  matters,  and  established  the 
church  of  England  even  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 
where,  at  the  time  of  its  passage,  that  church  could  hardly 
be  said  to  have  had  an  existence. 

As  another  instance  of  the  latitude  of  construction  given 
by  those  in  authority,  to  the  English  ecclesiastical  laws, 
may  be  mentioned  the  letter  of  the  Lords  Justices  in  Eng- 
land to  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  in  1725. 
A  request  had  been  made  to  the  authorities  of  that  pro- 
vince, by  the  pastors,  to  be  allowed  to  hold  a  synod.  When 
this  request  reached  the  ears  of  those  in  power  in  England, 
the  justices  wrote  a  severe  letter  to  the  governor  for  allow- 
ing the  matter  to  be  agitated.  They  say  they  can  find  no 
warrant  for  holding  such  a  synod,  "  but  if  such  synods 
might  be  holden,  yet  they  take  it  to  be  clear  in  point  of 
law,  that  his  majesty's  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  atfairs 
being  a  branch  of  the  prerogative,  does  take  place  in  the 
plantations;  and  synods  cannot  be  held,  nor  is  it  lawful  for 
the  clergy  to  assemble  as  in  synods,  without  authority  from 
his  majesty."  In  case  the  synod  had  actually  met  before 
these  instructions  came  to  hand,  the  lieutenant  governor 
"  was  to  cause  their  meeting  to  cease,  acquainting  them 
that  their  assembly  is  against  law  and  a  contempt  of  his 
majesty's  prerogative,  and  that  they  are  forbid  to  meet  any 
more."  ^ 

A  still  stronger  illustration  is  afforded  by  the  history  of 
New  Hampshire.  When  that  province  was  erected  into  a 
separate  government,  in  1679,  it  was  ordered  that  all  pro- 
testants  should  be  tolerated,  "and  that  those  especially  as 
shall  be  conformable  to  the  rites  of  the  church  of  England 
shall  be  particularly  countenanced  and  encouraged."  In 
'  See  the  whole  letter  in  the  Candid  Examination,  &,c.  p.  28—30. 


472  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

1684,  an  order  was  issued  by  the  governor  and  council, 
requiring  the  ministers  to  admit  all  persons  of  suitable  age, 
and  not  vicious,  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  their  children  to 
baptism,  and  enjoining,  in  case  any  one  wished  either  of 
the  sacraments  to  be  administered  according  to  the  liturgy, 
it  should  be  done,  in  pursuance  to  the  king's  command,  in 
the  colony  of  Massachusetts;  and  any  minister  who  refused 
obedience  to  this  order  was  to  suffer  the  penalties  of  the 
statutes  of  uniformity.  This  declaration  was  not  an  idle 
threat:  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moody,  of  Portsmou-th,  having  refused 
to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  form  prescribed,  was 
sentenced  to  six  months  imprisonment.  ^  The  same  instruc- 
tions given  to  Lord  Cornbury  as  governor  of  East  and 
West  Jersey,  were  given  to  the  governor  of  this  province, 
with  the  addition  that  no  one  from  England  was  to  be 
allowed  to  act  as  schoolmaster,  who  was  not  furnished  with 
a  certificate  from  the  bishop  of  London,  and  no  other  per- 
son without  the  governor's  license. 

The  non-episcopal  denominations,  therefore,  in  this  coun- 
try, had  abundant  cause  for  alarm.  From  South  Carolina 
to  New  Hampshire,  they  saw  the  power  and  influence  of 
the  government  exerted  to  give  ascendency  to  the  episcopal 
church.  This  object  was  constantly  though  cautiously  pur- 
sued. It  was  natural  that  it  should  be  so.  The  arguments 
which  were  adduced  to  prove  that  the  church  of  England 
was  entitled  to  this  ascendency,  were  sufficiently  plausible 
to  command  the  assent  of  those  who  were  anxious  to  be 
convinced.  And  the  motives  of  policy  in  behalf  of  the 
measure,  were  sufficiently  obvious  to  make  all  see  that  the 
English  government  would  pursue  it  as  far  as  it  could  be 
done  with  safety.  Here,  as  in  the  contest  about  taxation, 
it  was  not  the  pressure  of  the  particular  acts  of  injury  or 

'  Belknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire,  vol.  i.  p.  206. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  473 

indignity  that  produced  the  dissatisfaction;  but  the  power 
that  was  claimed.  The  assumption  was  the  same  in  both 
cases,  viz:  that  America  was  part  of  the  nation  of  Eng- 
land, that  the  power  of  the  king  and  parliament  was  here 
what  it  was  there.  Hence  on  the  one  hand,  the  infe- 
rence that  the  British  parliament  could  here  levy  what 
taxes  they  pleased;  and  on  the  other,  that  the  king's  supre- 
macy in  ecclesiastical  matters,  extended  to  the  colonies; 
that  every  Englishman  who  came  to  America,  did  but 
remove  from  one  part  of  the  nation  to  another;  that  he 
stood  in  the  same  relation  to  the  national  church  in  this 
country,  as  he  had  done  in  England.  It  is  readily  admitted 
that  as  there  were  some  English  statesmen  who  denied  the 
authority  of  parliament  to  tax  America,  so  there  were  many 
distinguished  men  who  denied  that  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
of  England  were  in  force  in  this  country.  But  in  both  cases 
the  interest,  and  bent,  and  general  course  of  the  govern- 
ment, were  against  the  liberties  of  the  colonies. 

Another  cause  of  irritation  and  uneasiness,  was  the  con- 
duct of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
foreign  parts.  The  principal  complaints  urged  against  it 
were,  first,  that  instead  of  sending  missionaries  to  the  hea- 
then, according  to  the  primary  object  of  its  institution,  it 
devoted  its  resources,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  American 
colonies.  The  society  was  successfully  vindicated  on  this 
point  by  its  various  advocates.  It  was  proved  that  its 
charter  contemplated  the  colonies  as  a  prominent  if  not  the 
chief  field  of  its  labours.  And  when  we  consider  the 
immense  extent  and  crying  destitution  of  this  country,  we 
shall  be  more  disposed  to  wonder  and  complain  that  the 
society  did  so  little,  than  that  it  did  so  much  for  its  relief. 
A  second  ground  of  complaint  was  more  plausible.  It  was 
urged  that  instead  of  sending  their  missionaries  where  they 

40* 


474  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

were  really  needed,  they  sent  them  to  New  Englend  where 
tliey  were  not  wanted.  At  this  time  there  were  at  least 
'five  hundred  and  fifty  educated  ministers  in  New  England, 
and  not  a  town,  unless  just  settled,  without  a  pastor,  unless 
it  was  in  Rhode  Island.  ^  That  there  was  ground  for  this 
complaint  against  the  society,  is  admitted  by  its  ablest  and 
most  dignified  defender,  who  says,  "  In  all  that  I  have 
hitherto  said,  I  am  far  fi'om  intending  to  affirm  that  the 
society  hath  not  laid  out  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
too  large  a  proportion  of  the  money  put  into  their  hands, 
considering  the  necessities  of  the  other  provinces."  ^  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  people  of  New  England  felt 
irritated  by  having  the  numerous  missionaries  of  a  powerful 
society  located  among  them,  where  their  most  ostensible  ob- 
ject was  not  to  supply  the  destitute,  but  to  make  proselytes 
from  established  congregations.  The  claims  and  conduct 
of  these  missionaries,  in  many  cases,  greatly  increased  this 
irritation.  They  spoke  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  in 
which  they  lived,  as  their  parishioners;  as  bound  both  by 
the  law  of  God  and  the  state  to  be  in  communion  with  the 
church  of  England;  as  having  no  authorized  ministers  or 
valid  ordinances;  as  belonging  to  churches  which  were  mere 
excrescences  or  fungosities. 

It  was  principally  from  the  missionaries  of  this  society 
that  the  demand  for  American  bishops  proceeded.  It  has 
already  been  stated  how  small  a  portion  of  the  Virginia 

'  Chauncy's  Remarks  on  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff's  sermon.  Boston,  1767, 
p.  37;  Dr.  Sprague's  Collection,  vol.  418. 

2  An  answer  to  Dr.  Mayhew's  Observations  on  the  character  and  conduct 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation,  &-c.;  London,  1764,  p.  49  ;  Dr.  Sprague's 
Collection,  vol,  —  p.  49.  The  author  of  this  Tract  is  said  by  Dr.  Chandler,  to 
have  been  one  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  church  of  England ;  and  it  contrasts 
very  favourably  with  some  of  the  controversial  pamphlets  of  the  missionaries 
of  the  society. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  475 

clerg}''  concurred  in  the  application.  ^  The  origin  of  the 
plan,  therefore,  was  not  likely  to  recommend  it  to  the 
public.  For  all  the  legitimate  purposes  of  a  bishop,  such  an 
officer  was  most  needed  where  episcopalians  were  the  most 
numerous.  That  the  request  came  from  the  provinces 
where  they  were  a  small  minority,  could  not  fail  to  pro- 
duce the  apprehension,  that  the  bishop's  influence  was  to 
be  used  to  give  that  minority  still  greater  ascendency. 

If  the  source  whence  this  application  emanated  excited 
apprehension,  the  grounds  on  which  it  was  urged  did  not 
tend  to  allay  these  fears.  It  is  true  the  plan  was  exhibited 
with  much  plausibility  in  Dr.  Chandler's  Appeal.  He  fre- 
quently asserts  that  the  power  of  the  proposed  bishop  was 
to  be  derived  altogether  from  the  church  and  not  from  the 
state;  that  he  was  not  to  be  received  on  the  ground  of  a 
state-establishment.  In  this  he  was  no  doubt  sincere;  but 
he  and  his  readers  difl'ered  widely  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
terms  here  employed.  If  the  bishop  was  not  to  receive  any 
power  from  the  state,  why  was  he  to  be  sent  by  act  of  par- 
liament? Dr.  Chandler  says,  that  when  bishops  were  first 
proposed  for  this  country,  they  were  spoken  of  as  suffra- 
gans, whose  duty  it  was  to  discharge  offices  merely  epis- 
copal, according  to  the  direction,  and  by  virtue  of  a  com- 
mission from  the  diocesan.  And  he  gives  his  readers  to 
understand  that  such  bishops  were  still  desired.  Then  why 
did  not  the  bishop  of  London  consecrate  and  commission 
them  without  troubling  parliament  about  the  matter?  There 
was  no  legislative  act  necessary  to  authorize  the  sending  of 

1  Dr.  Hawks  states,  that  the  applications  for  a  resident  bishop  were  made 
"principally  by  the  clergy  o{  the  northern  provinces."  Dr.  Hawks  italicises 
the  word  clergy.  He  further  says,  that  the  convention  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  sent  missionaries  to  the  South  to  endeavour  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  their  southern  brethren  in  the  prosecution  of  this  object. 


476  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

deacons,  priests,  or  commissaries,  to  this  country,  why  then 
was  such  an  act  required  to  authorize  the  sending  a  suffra- 
gan bishop  ?  Dr.  Chandler  informs  us,  however,  that  when 
the  Society  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  first  undertook 
this  business,  they  "  began  by  making  all  proper  represen- 
tations of  the  case  to  the  Queen,  (Anne);  they  proceeded  to 
purchase  a  house  in  New  Jersey  for  the  residence  of  a 
bishop,  and  after  duly  preparing  the  way,  obtained  an 
order  from  the  crown  for  a  bill  to  be  drawn  and  laid  before 
parliament  for  establishing  an  American  episcopate."  He 
confirms  his  representation  by  the  following  extract  from 
the  published  proceedings  of  the  society.  "A  representa- 
tion was  humbly  olTered  to  her  majesty,  importing  what 
number  of  bishops  was  expedient  to  be  sent,  where  they 
were  to  be  fixed,  and  what  revenues  might  be  thought 
proper  for  their  support.  To  which  her  majesty  was 
pleased  to  give  a  most  gracious  answer,  highly  satisfactory 
to  the  society;  and  a  draught  of  a  bill  was  ordered  proper 
to  be  offered  to  parliament  for  establishing  bishops  and 
bishopricks  in  America."^  Now  whatever  Dr.  Chandler 
might  think  on  the  subject,  this  was  a  plan  for  introducing 
bishops  on  the  footing  of  a  state-establishment.  They  were 
to  be  sent  by  the  state;  their  residence,  revenues,  and  pow- 
ers, were  to  be  ascertained  by  the  state;  all,  or  at  least  the 
last,  were  to  be  fixed  by  act  of  parliament.  No  one  at  all 
acquainted  with  the  temper  of  that  period,  or  who  knows 
the  power  which  the  authorities  in  England  were  accus- 
tomed to  see  in  the  hands  of  a  bishop,  can  wonder  that  not 
only  the  non-episcopal  clergy,  but  also  episcopal  laymen 
rose  in  opposition  to  this  plan;  that  the  house  of  burgesses 
in  Virginia  unanimously  protested  against  it.  If  parliament 
was  to  determine  the  extent  of  these  episcopal  powers,  the 

'  Appeal,  pp.  51,  52. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  477 

country  had  good  reason  to  be  assured  they  would  be  made 
as  large  as  was  consistent  with  safety.  It  was  a  plan  to 
let  episcopalians  say  how  much  power  episcopal  bishops 
should  have  over  other  denominations. 

Though  Dr.  Chandler  says,  it  was  not  intended  to  allow 
the  American  bishops  to  hold  ecclesiastical  courts,  or  to 
interfere  with  questions  relating  to  wills,  marriage,  guard- 
ianship, &c. ;  yet  he  clearly  intimates  that  it  would  be  nothing 
unreasonable  if  important  civil  powers  were  to  be  conferred 
upon  them.     "  There  is  not,"  he  says,  "  the  least  prospect 
at  present,  that  bishops  in  this  country  will  ever  acquire 
any  influence  or  power,  but  what  shall  arise  from  a  general 
opinion  of  their  abilities  and  integrity,  and  a  conviction  of 
their  usefulness;  and  of  this  no  persons  need  dread  the  con- 
sequences.    But  should  the  government  see  fit  hereafter  to 
invest  them  with  some  degree  of  civil  power  worthy  of 
their  acceptance,  which  it  is  impossible  to  say  they  will  not, 
although  there  is  no  appearance  that  they  ever  will;  yet  as 
no  new  powers  will  be  created  in  favour  of  bishops,  it  is 
inconceivable  that  any  would  thereby  be  injured.     All  that 
the  happiness  and  safety  of  the  public  require,  is,  that  the 
legislative  and  executive  power  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
such  persons  as  are  possessed  of  the  greatest  abilities,  inte- 
grity, and  prudence;  and  it  is  hoped  that  our  bishops  will 
always  be  thought  to  deserve  this  character."  ^     If  episco- 
palians were  afraid  to  allow  presbyterians  an  act  of  incor- 
paration  to  enable  them  to  hold  their  church  and  grave- 
yard, lest  they  should  use  the  power  against  the  church, 
could  presbyterians  be  expected  to  regard  with  indiff'er- 
ence  legislative  or  executive  power  in  the  hands  of  an 
episcopal  bishop,  especially  when  the  nature  and  extent  of 

1  Appeal,  p.  110. 


478  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

that  power  were  to  be  determined  by  the  English  govern- 
ment?^ 

Another  ground  of  apprehension  related  to  the  support 
of  these  bishops.  The  country  had  abundant  reason  to 
expect  that  this  burden  would,  sooner  or  later,  be  thrown 
upon  the  public.  Wherever  the  government  were  able  to 
effect  the  object,  they  had  already  thrown  the  support  of  the 
episcopal  clergy  upon  the  community.  This  had  been  done 
in  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  Maryland.  To  a  certain 
extent  it  had  been  done  in  Nevir  York;  and  the  royal 
governors  in  other  provinces,  had  orders  to  accomplish  the 
same  object  as  far  as  possible.  With  regard  to  the  bishops, 
Dr.  Chandler  says,  indeed,  that  there  was  no  intention  to  tax 
the  country  for  their  support ;  yet  he  distinctly  recognises 
both  the  right  and  reasonableness  of  such  a  tax.  "  Should," 
says  he,  "a  general  tax  be  laid  upon  the  country,  and 
thereby  a  sum  be  raised  sufficient  for  the  purpose;  and 
even  supposing  we  should  have  three  bishops  on  the  con- 
tinent, which  are  the  most  that  have  been  mentioned,  yet  I 
believe  such  a  tax  would  not  amount  to  more  than  four 
pence  in  a  hundred  pounds.  And  this  would  be  no  mighty 
hardship  to  the  country.  He  that  could  think  much  of 
giving  the  six  thousandth  part  of  his  income  to  any  use 
which  the  legislature  of  his  country  should  assign,  deserves 
not  to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  good  subject  or  mem- 
ber of  society."  ^  What  mighty  hardship  to  the  country 
was  a  tax  of  three  pence  on  a  pound  of  tea?  Yet  how  great 
a  fire  that  little  matter  kindled.     Dr.  Chandler  evidently 

'  Dr.  Chandler  says,  in  the  Defence  of  the  Appeal,  that  the  above  case  was 
only  hypothetical.  The  hypothesis,  however,  was  so  put,  as  to  show  that  he 
regarded  the  possession  of  civil  power  by  American  bishops,  as  no  just  ground 
of  complaint.  2  Appeal,  p.  107. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  479 

assumed  two  things,  which  America  never  would  quietly 
submit  to.  The  one  was,  that  the  English  parliament  had 
a  right  to  lay  a  general  tax  upon  the  country;  and  the 
other,  that  they  had  a  right  to  tax  the  whole  community 
for  the  support  of  the  episcopal  church.  Here  was  the  old 
error,  viz:  that  America  was  part  of  the  nation  of  England, 
and  consequently  that  the  parliament  had  the  same  power 
here  as  there;  and  that  the  episcopal  church  was  the  na- 
tional church  in  the  one  country  as  well  as  in  the  other.  ^ 

The  political  motives  urged  by  Dr.  Chandler  in  support 
of  his  plea  for  bishops,  were  not  suited  to  conciliate  special 
favour  to  the  plan.  "  Episcopacy  and  monarchy,"  he  says, 
"  are,  in  their  frame  and  constitution,  best  suited  to  each 
other.  Episcopacy  can  never  thrive  in  a  republican  gov- 
ernment, nor  republican  principles  in  an  episcopal  church." 

•  What  Dr.  Chandler  says  in  the  Defence  of  his  Appeal,  In  reference  to 
the  passage  cited  above,  does  not  remove  its  objectionable  character.  He 
repeats  his  denial  that  the  imposition  of  a  tax  wa.s  either  probable  or  intended, 
and  "  Further,  to  show  that  America  had  no  need  to  be  terrified  on  that 
account,"  he  adds,  "  I  considered  the  matter  under  the  most  unfavourable  sup- 
position that  could  be  made,  namcl}',  that  the  deficiency  in  the  episcopal  fund 
should  be  answered  by  a  tax  upon  the  inhabitants,  and  declared  it  as  my 
opinion,  that  such  a  tax  would  be  inconsiderable,  and  amount  to  no  more  than 
four  pence  in  a  hundred  pounds."  p.  249.  The  objection  was  not  to  the 
amount  of  the  tax,  but  to  a  tax  at  all;  and  especially  to  a  tax  for  such  a  pur- 
pose. His  language  in  both  passages  clearly  implies,  that  he  recognised  the 
power  to  impose  such  a  tax,  and  that  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  complain 
of  it.  This  supremacy  of  the  imperial  parliament,  England  never  would  give 
up.  Had  she  been  willing  to  adopt  the  theory  which  Franklin  urged  in  vain 
upon  her  statesmen,  and  agreed  to  make  the  king  and  not  the  parliament,  the 
bond  of  union  between  the  countries,  allowing  every  province,  important 
enough  to  have  a  legislature,  to  govern  itself  as  Scotland  did  before  the  union  ; 
had,  in  other  words,  the  bonds  of  union  been  made  so  loose  as  not  to  be  galling, 
the  British  monarch  might  have  swayed  a  peaceful  sceptre  over  near  iialf  the 
world.  God  has  ordered  it  otherwise,  and  therefore,  it  is  best  it  should  be 
otherwise. 


480  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Experience  has  proved  this  opinion  to  be  incorrect.  The 
episcopal  church  never  flourished  in  this  country  so  much 
as  since  the  estabhshment  of  the  republic.  Dr.  Chandler 
goes  on  to  say,  that  as  episcopacy  and  monarchy  "  are 
mutually  adapted  to  each  other,  so  they  are  mutually  intro- 
ductive  of  each  other.  He  that  prefers  monarchy  in  the 
state,  is  more  likely  to  approve  of  episcopacy  in  the  church 
than  a  rigid  republican.  On  the  other  hand,  he  that  is  for 
parity  and  a  popular  government  in  the  church,  will  more 
easily  be  led  to  approve  of  a  similar  form  of  government  in 
the  state,  how  little  soever  he  may  suspect  it  himself.  It  is 
not  then  to  be  wondered,  if  our  civil  rulers  have  always 
considered  episcopacy  as  the  surest  friend  of  monarchy; 
and  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  from  those  in  authority, 
that  they  will  support  and  assist  the  church  in  America,  if 
from  no  other  motives,  yet  from  a  regard  to  the  state,  with 
which  it  has  so  friendly  and  close  an  alliance."  ^  As  there 
was  at  this  time  a  rapidly  increasing  dread  of  the  power  of 
the  mother  country,  the  consideration  that  the  introduction 
of  bishops  would  tend  to  increase  that  power,  and  strengthen 
the  government  was  not  suited  to  allay  apprehension  or  to 
conciliate  favour. 

This  long  detail  respecting  a  controversy  now  almost 
forgotten,  may  be  excused  since  it  relates  to  an  important 
chapter  in  the  history  not  only  of  our  church  but  of  the 
country.  This  controversy  had  more  to  do  with  the  revo- 
lution than  is  generally  supposed;  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  leading  facts  in  the  case  is  necessary  to  free  presbyte- 
rians,  and  other  denominations,  from  the  charge  of  unrea- 
sonable and  bigotted  opposition  to  a  church  fully  entitled 
to  confidence  and  afiection.  Before  the  revolution  the  epis- 
copal church,  from  its  connexion  with  the  English  govern- 

Appca!,  p.  115. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  481 

ment,  and  from  its  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  branch  of  a 
great  national  establishment,  was  justly  an  object  of  ap- 
prehension. And  this  apprehension  \vas  confirmed  and 
deepened  by  a  long  series  of  encroachments  on  the  rights 
of  other  denominations.  After  the  revolution,  that  church 
ceased  to  be  the  church  of  England,  and  became  the  pro- 
testant  episcopal  church  in  the  United  States.  Since  she 
has  taken  her  stand  on  equal  terms  with  sister  churches, 
she  is  the  object  of  no  other  feehngs  than  respect  and  love, 
wherever  she  consents  to  acknowledge  that  equality. 


THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  SYNOD  IN  REFERENCE  TO  THE 
REVOLUTION. 

After  reading  the  preceding  section,  no  one  need  be  at  a 
loss  to  conjecture  the  part  taken  by  the  synod  in  relation  to 
the  great  struggle  for  the  liberties  of  America.  The  posi- 
tion in  which  the  presbyterians  and  other  non-episcopal 
denominations  stood  to  the  English  government,  naturally 
placed  them  in  the  opposition.  The  declaration  of  the 
English  parliament,  "  That  the  king's  majesty,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal, 
and  commons  of  Great  Britain,  in  parliament  assembled, 
had,  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to  have  full  power  and  autho- 
rity to  make  laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force  and  vali- 
dity to  bind  the  colonies  and  people  of  America,  subjects  of 
the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  in  all  cases  whatsoever;"  ^ 
was  quite  as  alarming  in  reference  to  the  religious  as  to  the 
civil  liberties  of  the  people.  No  one  doubted  that  the 
English  parliament  believed  an  established  church  desira- 
ble, or  that  the  episcopal  church  was,  in  their  opinion,  the 

'  Gen.  Conway's  resolutions,  passed  by  the  house  of  commons,  February, 
1766. 

41 


482  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

best  and  safest  form  of  religion;  and  no  one  could  doubt,  as 
they  claimed  the  power,  they  would  give  that  church  an 
effective  establishment  in  every  colony  sufficiently  under 
their  control.  In  almost  every  province,  all  denominations, 
except  the  episcopal,  were  regarded  as  merely  tolerated  in 
their  own  country,  and  were  subject  to  many  unjust  de- 
mands peculiar  to  themselves.  It  was  impossible  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  could  be  treated  as  inferiors; 
could  be  denied  privileges  which  they  considered  their  due; 
or  that  they  could  see  a  smaU  minority  of  their  fellow  citi- 
zens regarded  as  standing  in  an  alliance  to  the  state  pecu- 
liarly friendly  and  close,  and  on  that  account  treated  with 
special  favour,  without  being  discontented  and  uneasy. 
The  declaration  of  independence  was  for  all  such,  a  declara- 
tion of  religious,  as  well  as  of  civil  liberty.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  the  non-episcopal  clergy  entered 
into  the  conflict  with  a  decision  which,  in  many  cases, 
would  render  it  more  easy  to  prove  that  they  did  too  much, 
than  that  they  did  too  little. 

If  it  was  natural  that  presbyterians  should  side  with 
America  in  that  hour  of  trial,  it  was  no  less  natural  that 
the  episcopal  clergy  should  side  with  the  mother  country. 
They  had  no  peculiar  grievances  to  complain  of,  nor  any 
fear  for  the  liberty  of  their  church.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
to  England  they  looked  for  support,  for  patronage,  for  legal 
provision,  for  that  property  and  pre-eminence  which  they 
thought  due  to  them  as  a  branch  of  the  national  church. 
Besides,  many  of  them  were  born,  and  all  had  been  ordained 
in  England,  and  personally  had  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance. 
They  were  bound,  therefore,  by  peculiar  ties;  ties,  which, 
it  can  well  be  imagined  good  men  would  find  it  hard  to 
break.  Instead,  therefore,  of  its  being  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  the  majority  of  the  episcopal  clergy  took  part  with 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  483 

England,  the  wonder  is  that  so  many  sided  with  America. 
Those  who  did  so,  did  it  at  a  great  sacrifice.  They  con- 
tended against  their  own  apparent  interests;  and  were 
either  very  enHghtened  patriots,  or  very  indifferent  church- 
men. Considering,  then,  the  pecuHar  circumstances  of  the 
episcopal  clergy  at  that  time,  so  far  from  being  disposed  to 
make  it  a  matter  of  reproach  that  they  adhered  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  mother  country,  we  are  disposed  to  think 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  they  were  those  of  most  moral  worth, 
and  most  entitled  to  respect,  who  took  this  course.  This, 
however,  must  not  be  considered  as  an  injurious  reflection 
on  the  patriot  clergy.  While  some  of  them  took  commis- 
sions in  the  army,  others  remained  faithful  at  once  to  reli- 
gion and  their  country.  The  venerable  Bishop  White,  an 
ornament  to  the  church  universal,  was  for  a  long  time  the 
chaplain  of  congress,  and  acted  with  deliberation,  and  well- 
considered  principle  in  the  course  which  he  adopted.  ^  The 
laymen  of  the  episcopal  church  did  not  feel  themselves 
trammelled  in  the  same  manner,  or  to  the  same  extent  as 
the  ministers,  and  hence  some  of  the  most  prominent  and 

'  In  a  letter  to  Bishop  Hobart,  he  says,  "I  continued,  as  did  all  of  us,  to 
pray  for  the  king,  until  Sunday,  (inclusively,)  before  the  fourth  of  July,  1776. 
Within  a  short  time  after,  I  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States, 
and  have  since  remained  faithful  to  it.  My  intentions  were  upright  and 
most  seriously  weighed;  and  I  hope  they  were  not  in  contrariety  to  my 
duty." 

In  another  place  he  sa3's,  "  Owing  to  the  circumstances  of  many  able  and 
worthy  ministers  cherishing  their  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain, 
and  entertaining  conscientious  scruples  against  the  use  of  the  liturgy,  with 
the  omission  of  the  appointed  prayers  for  him,  they  ceased  to  officiate,  and 
the  doors  of  far  the  greater  number  of  episcopal  churches  were  closed  for 
years.  In  this  state  there  was  a  part  of  tliat  time  in  which  there  was, 
through  the  whole  extent,  but  one  resident  minister  of  the  church  in  ques- 
tion :  he  who  records  the  fact." — See  Address,  &c.  by  William  B.  Reed, 
Philadelphia,  1838, 


484  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

influential  of  the  public  leaders  of  the  day  belonged  to  that 
church. 

The  part  taken  by  presbyterians  in  the  contest  with  the 
mother  country,  was,  at  the  time,  often  made  a  ground  of 
reproach;  and  the  connexion  between  their  efforts  for  the 
security  of  their  religious  liberty,  and  opposition  to  the 
oppressive  measures  of  parliament,  was  then  distinctly- 
seen.  Mr.  Galloway,  a  prominent  advocate  of  the  govern- 
ment, ascribed,  in  1774,  the  revolt  and  revolution  mainly  to 
the  action  of  the  presbyterian  clergy  and  laity  as  early  as 
1764,  when  the  proposition  for  a  general  synod  emanated 
from  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose  in  Philadel- 
phia.  ^  This  was  a  great  exaggeration  and  mistake,  but  it 
indicates  the  close  connexion  between  the  civil  and  religi- 
ous part  of  the  controversy.  The  same  writer  describes 
the  opponents  of  the  government,  as  an  "  united  faction  of 
congregationalists,  presbyterians,  and  smugglers."  Another 
writer  of  the  same  period  says,  "  You  will  have  discovered 
that  I  am  no  friend  to  presbyterians,  and  that  I  fix  all  the 
blame  of  these  extraordinary  American  proceedings  upon 
them."  ^  He  goes  on,  "  Believe,  sir,  the  presbyterians  have 
been  the  chief  and  principal  instruments  in  all  these  flam- 
ing measures;  and  they  always  do  and  ever  will  act  against 
government,  from  that  restless  and  turbulent  anti-monarch- 
ical spirit  which  has  always  distinguished  them  every  where 
when  they  had,  or  by  any  means  could  assume  power, 
however  illegally." 

As  the  conduct  of  the  presbyterian  clergy  during  the 
revolutionary  war  is  not  a  matter  of  dispute,  all  that  we  are 
called  upon  to  do,  is  briefly  to  exhibit  the  action  of  the 
synod  in  reference  to  this  subject.     One  of  the  first  exercises 

'  Reed's  Address,  p.  51. 

2  By  presbyterians  this  writer  means  non-episcopalians. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  485 

of  the  power  claimed  by  parliament  to  impose  taxes  on 
America,  was  the  passage  of  the  stamp-act  in  1764.  The 
opposition  to  this  measure  was  so  general  and  vehement, 
that  the  British  government  thought  proper  to  repeal  the 
act,  though  they  accompanied  the  repeal  with  the  strongest 
declarations  of  their  right  to  tax  the  colonies  at  discretion. 
In  the  controversy  relating  to  this  subject,  the  synod  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  publicly  expressed  their  sym- 
pathy with  their  fellow  citizens.  As  soon  as  the  repeal 
was  known  in  this  country,  "An  overture  was  made  by 
Dr.  Alison,  that  an  address  be  presented  to  our  sovereign 
on  the  joyful  occasion  of  the  repeal  of  the  stamp-act,  and 
thereby  a  confirmation  of  our  liberties;  and  at  the  same 
time  proposing  a  copy  of  an  address  for  examination,  which 
was  read  and  approved,"  but  not  recorded.  ^  The  synod 
also  addressed  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  churches,  filled  with 
patriotic  and  pious  sentiments.  They  remind  the  people, 
that  after  God  had  delivered  the  country  from  the  horrors 
of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  instead  of  rendering  to  liim 
according  to  the  multitude  of  his  mercies,  they  had  become 
more  wicked  than  ever.  "The  Almighty  thus  provoked, 
permitted  counsels  of  the  most  pernicious  tendency,  both  to 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies.  The  imposition  of  unusual 
taxes,  a  severe  restriction  of  our  trade,  and  an  almost  total 
stagnation  of  business,  threatened  us  with  universal  ruin. 
A  long  suspense  whether  we  should  be  deprived  of,  or 
restored  to  a  peaceable  enjoyment  of  the  inestimable  privi- 
leges of  English  liberty,  filled  every  breast  with  painful 
anxiety."  They  express  their  joy  that  government  had 
been  induced  to  resort  to  moderate  measures,  instead  of 
appealing  to  force;  and  call  upon  the  people  to  bless  God, 
who,  notwithstanding  their  sins,  had  saved  them  from  the 

!  Minutes,  p.  144. 
41* 


486  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

horrors  of  a  civil  war.  They,  finally,  earnestly  exhort  their 
people  not  to  add  to  the  common  stock  of  guilt,  but  "  to  be 
strict  in  observing  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  Jesus  Christ; 
to  pay  a  sacred  regard  to  his  Sabbaths;  to  reverence  his 
holy  name,  and  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour 
by  good  works.  We  pray  you,"  say  the  synod,  "to  seek 
earnestly  the  saving  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  the  internal 
power  and  spirit  of  religion.  Thus  may  you  hope  for  the 
continued  kindness  of  a  gracious  Providence;  and  this  is 
the  right  way  to  express  your  gratitude  to  the  Father  of 
mercies  for  your  late  glorious  deliverance.  But  persisting 
to  grieve  his  Holy  Spirit  by  a  neglect  of  vital  religion,  and 
a  continuance  of  sin,  you  have  reason  to  dread  that  a  holy 
God  will  punish  you  yet  seven  times  more  for  your  ini- 
quities." ^ 

In  this  letter,  as  in  all  the  public  documents  issued  before 
the  declaration  of  independence,  there  are  strong  expres- 
sions of  loyalty,  and  of  the  wish  to  preserve  inviolate  the 
union  with  the  mother  country.  In  the  declaration  of 
rights  by  the  congress  held  at  New  York,  in  October,  1765, 
it  is  said,  "  The  members  of  this  congress,  sincerely  devoted 
with  the  warmest  sentiments  of  affection  and  duty  to  his 
majesty's  person  and  government,  inviolably  attached  to  the 
present  happy  establishment  of  the  protestaut  succession,  &c. 
&c.,  esteem  it  our  indispensable  duty  to  make  the  following 
declarations  of  our  humble  opinion  respecting  the  most  essen- 
tial rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonists."  The  first  declara- 
tion is,  "  That  his  majesty's  subjects  in  these  colonies,  owe  the 
same  allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  that  is  owing 
from  subjects  born  within  the  realm,  and  all  due  subjection 
to  that  august  body  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain."  ^   And 

'  Minutes,  p.  151. 

2  See  Pitkin's  Political  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.  p.  446. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  487 

the  congress  held  at  Philadelphia,  September,  1774,  in  their 
address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  say,  "You  have 
been  told  that  we  are  seditious,  impatient  of  government, 
and  desirous  of  independence.  Be  assured  that  these  are 
not  facts,  but  calumnies.  Permit  us  to  be  as  free  as  your- 
selves, and  we  shall  ever  esteem  an  union  with  you  to  be 
our  greatest  glory  and  our  greatest  happiness;  we  shall  ever 
be  ready  to  contribute  all  in  our  power  to  the  welfare  of 
the  empire;  we  consider  your  enemies  as  our  enemies,  and 
your  interests  as  our  own."  ^  There  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  these  declarations  were  as  sincere  as  they  were 
general.  The  American  patriots  regarded  separation  from 
the  mother  country  as  a  great  evil ;  and  to  the  last  moment 
cherished  the  hope  that  some  accommodation  might  be 
made,  which  should  secure  them  the  enjoyment  of  their 
rights,  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  a  violent  separation. 

As  the  indications  of  the  coming  conflict  began  to  mul- 
tiply, the  synod  endeavoured  to  prepare  their  people  for 
the  trial.  Almost  every  year  they  appointed  days  for  spe- 
cial prayer  and  fasting,  and  presented  "  the  threatening 
aspect  of  public  affairs,"  as  one  of  the  most  prominent 
reasons  of  their  observance.  In  1775,  the  record  on  this 
subject  is  to  the  following  effect:  "  The  synod  considering 
the  present  alarming  state  of  public  affairs,  do  unanimously 
judge  it  their  duty  to  call  all  the  congregations  under  their 
care,  to  solemn  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer;  and  for 
this  purpose  appoint  the  last  Thursday  of  June  next  to  be 
carefully  and  religiously  observed.  But  as  the  continental 
congress  are  now  sitting,  who  may  probably  appoint  a  fast 
for  the  same  purpose,  the  synod,  from  respect  to  that  august 
body,  and  for  greater  harmony  with  other  denominations, 
and  for  the  greater  public  order,  if  the  congress  shall  ap- 

'  See  Pitkin's  Political  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.  p.  481. 


488  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

point  a  day  not  above  four  weeks  distant  from  the  said  last 
Thursday  of  June,  order  that  the  congregations  belonging 
to  this  synod,  do  keep  the  day  appointed  by  congress  in 
obedience  to  this  resolution;  and  if  they  appoint  a  day  more 
distant,  the  synod  order  both  to  be  observed  by  all  our 
communion.  The  synod  also  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all 
the  congregations  under  their  care,  to  spend  the  afternoon 
of  the  last  Thursday  in  every  month,  in  public  solemn 
prayer  to  God,  during  the  continuance  of  our  present  trou- 
bles." ^  This  recommendation  of  the  observance  of  a  day 
for  prayer  every  month,  was  frequently  repeated  during 
the  war. 

In  this  memorable  year  also,  the  synod  addressed  a  long 
and  excellent  letter  to  the  churches.     It  thus  begins:  "  The 
synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  being  met  at  a  time 
when  public  affairs  wear  so  threatening  an  aspect,  and 
when,  unless  God  in  his  sovereign  providence  speedily  pre- 
vent it,  all  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war  throughout  this  great 
continent  are  to  be  apprehended,  were  of  opinion  that  they 
could  not  discharge  their  duty  to  the  numerous  congrega- 
tions under  their  care,  without    addressing   them  at  this 
important  crisis.     As  the  firm  belief  and  habitual  recollec- 
tion of  the  power  and  presence  of  the  living  God,  ought  at 
all  times  to  possess  the  minds  of  real  Christians;  so  in  sea- 
sons of  public  calamity,  when  the  Lord  is  known  by  the 
judgments  which  he  executeth,  it  would  be  an  ignorance  or 
indifference  highly  criminal,  not  to  look  up  to  him  with 
reverence,  to   implore  his  mercy  by  humble  and  fervent 
prayer,  and  if  possible,  to  prevent  his  vengeance,  by  timely 
repentance.     We  do,  therefore,  brethren  beseech  you,  in 
the  most  earnest  manner,  to  look  beyond  the  immediate 
authors,  either  of  your  sufferings  or  fears,  and  to  acknow- 

I  Minutes,  p.  317. 


IN    THE    UNITED  STATES.  489 

ledge  the  holiness  and  justice  of  the  Almighty  in  the  pre- 
sent visitation."  The  synod  then  exhort  the  people  to  con- 
fession and  repentance;  reminding  them  that  their  pray- 
ers should  be  attended  with  a  sincere  purpose  and  thorough 
endeavour  after  personal  and  family  reformation.  "  If  thou 
prepare  thine  heart  and  stretch  out  thine  hand  towards  him, 
if  iniquity  be  in  thine  hands  put  it  far  away,  and  let  not 
wickedness  dwell  in  thy  tabernacles." 

They  considered  it  also  a  proper  time  to  press  on  all  of 
every  rank,  seriously  to  consider  the  things  which  belong  to 
their  eternal  peace,  saying,  "  Hostilities  long  feared,  have 
now  taken  place;  the  sword  has  been  drawn  in  one  pro- 
vince ;  and  the  whole  continent,  with  hardly  any  exception, 
seem  determined  to  defend  their  rights  by  force  of  arms. 
If  at  the  same  time  the  British  ministry  shall  continue  to 
enforce  their  claims  by  violence,  a  lasting  and  bloody  con- 
test must  be  expected.  Surely  then  it  becomes  those  who 
have  taken  up  arms,  and  profess  a  willingness  to  hazard 
their  lives  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  to  be  prepared  for  death, 
which  to  many  must  be  certain,  and  to  every  one  is  a  pos- 
sible or  probable  event. 

"We  have  long  seen  with  concern,  the  circumstances 
which  occasioned,  and  the  gradual  increase  of  this  unhappy 
difference.  As  ministers  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  we  have 
ardently  wished  that  it  might  be,  and  often  hoped  that  it 
would  liave  been  more  early  accommodated.  It  is  well 
known  to  you,  otherwise  it  would  be  imprudent  indeed 
thus  publicly  to  profess,  that  we  have  not  been  instrumental 
in  inflaming  the  minds  of  the  people,  or  urging  them  to  acts 
of  violence  and  disorder.  Perhaps  no  instance  can  be  given 
on  so  interesting  a  subject,  in  which  political  sentiments 
have  been  so  long  and  fully  kept  from  the  pulpit;  and  even 
malice  itself  has  not  charged  us  with  labouring  from  the 


490  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

press.  But  things  have  now  come  to  such  a  state,  that  as 
we  do  not  wish  to  conceal  our  opinions  as  men  and  citizens, 
so  the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  you,  seemed  to  make 
the  present  improvement  of  it  to  your  spiritual  benefit,  an 
indispensable  duty." 

Then  follows  an  exhortation  directed  principally  to  young 
men,  who  might  offer  themselves  as  "  champions  of  their 
country's  cause,"  to  cultivate  piety,  to  reverence  the  name 
of  God,  and  to  trust  his  providence.  "  The  Lord  is  with  you 
while  ye  be  with  him;  and  if  ye  seek  him,  he  will  be  found 
of  you;  but  if  ye  forsake  him,  he  will  forsake  you." 

After  this  exhortation  the  synod  offered  special  counsels 
to  the  churches  as  to  their  public  and  general  conduct. 

"First:  In  carrying  on  this  important  struggle,  let  eve- 
ry opportunity  be  taken  to  express  your  attachment  and 
respect  to  our  sovereign  King  George,  and  to  the  revolution 
principles  by  which  his  august  family  was  seated  on  the 
British  throne.  We  recommend,  indeed,  not  only  allegiance 
to  him  from  principle  and  duty,  as  the  first  magistrate  of 
the  empire,  but  esteem  and  reverence  for  the  person  of  the 
prince,  who  has  merited  well  of  his  subjects  on  many 
accounts,  and  who  has  probably  been  misled  into  his  late 
and  present  measures  by  those  about  him;  neither  have  we 
any  doubt,  that  they  themselves  have  been  in  a  great  degree 
deceived  by  false  representations  from  interested  persons 
residing  in  America.  It  gives  us  the  greatest  pleasure  to 
say,  from  our  own  certain  knowledge  of  all  belonging  to 
our  communion,  and  from  the  best  means  of  information  of 
far  the  greatest  part  of  all  denominations  in  this  country, 
that  the  present  opposition  to  the  measures  of  administra- 
tion, does  not  in  the  least  arise  from  disaffection  to  the  king, 
or  a  desire  of  separation  from  the  parent  state.  We  are 
happy  in  being  able  with  truth  to  affirm,  that  no  part  of 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  491 

America  would  either  have  approved  or  permitted  such 
insults  as  have  been  offered  to  the  sovereign  in  Great  Bri- 
tain. We  exhort  you,  therefore,  to  continue  in  the  same 
disposition,  and  not  to  suffer  oppression  or  injury  itself 
easily  to  provoke  you  to  any  thing  which  may  seem  to 
betray  contrary  sentiments.  Let  it  ever  appear  that  you 
only  desire  the  preservation  and  security  of  those  rights 
which  belong  to  you  as  freemen  and  Britons,  and  that 
reconciliation  upon  these  terms  is  your  most  ardent  desire. 

"Secondly,  be  careful  to  maintain  the  union  which  at 
present  subsists  through  all  the  colonies.  Nothing  can  be 
more  manifest  than  that  the  success  of  every  measure  de- 
pends on  its  being  inviolably  preserved;  and,  therefore,  we 
hope  you  will  leave  nothing  undone  which  can  promote 
that  end.  In  particular,  as  the  continental  congress,  now 
sitting  at  Philadelphia,  consists  of  delegates  chosen  in  the 
most  free  and  unbiassed  manner,  by  the  body  of  the  peo- 
ple, let  them  not  only  be  treated  with  respect,  and  encour- 
aged in  their  difficult  service;  not  only  let  your  prayers  be 
offered  up  to  God  for  his  direction  in  their  proceedings,  but 
adhere  firmly  to  their  resolutions;  and  let  it  be  seen  that 
they  are  able  to  bring  out  the  whole  strength  of  this  vast 
country  to  carry  them  into  execution.  We  would  also  ad- 
vise for  the  same  purpose,  that  a  spirit  of  candour,  charity, 
and  mutual  esteem  be  preserved  and  promoted  towards 
those  of  different  religious  denominations.  Persons  of  pro- 
bity and  principle  of  every  profession,  should  be  united 
together  as  servants  of  the  same  Master;  and  the  experience 
of  our  happy  concord  hitherto  in  a  state  of  liberty,  should 
engage  all  to  unite  in  support  of  the  common  interest;  for 
there  is  no  example  in  liistory  in  which  civil  liberty  was 
destroyed,  and  the  rights  of  conscience  preserved  entire. 

"  Thirdly,  we  do  earnestly  exhort  and  beseech  the  socie- 


492  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

ties  under  our  care  to  be  strict  and  vigilant  in  their  private 
government,  and  to  watch  over  the  morals  of  their  several 
members."  This  duty  is  urged  at  some  length,  and  then 
the  letter  proceeds  thus: 

"  Fourthly,  we  cannot  but  recommend  and  urge  in  the 
warmest  manner,  a  regard  to  order  and  the  public  peace; 
and  as  in  many  places,  during  the  confusion  that  prevails, 
legal  proceedings  have  become  difficult,  it  is  hoped  that  all 
persons  will  conscientiously  pay  their  just  debts,  and  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power  serve  one  another,  so  that  the  evils 
inseparable  from  a  civil  war,  may  not  be  augmented  by 
wantonness  and  irregularity. 

"  Fifthly,  we  think  it  of  importance  at  this  time,  to  recom- 
mend to  all  of  every  rank,  but  especially  to  those  who  may 
be  called  to  action,  a  spirit  of  humanity  and  mercy.  Every 
battle  of  the  warrior  is  with  confused  noise  and  garments 
rolled  in  blood.  It  is  impossible  to  appeal  to  the  sword 
without  being  exposed  to  many  scenes  of  cruelty  and 
slaughter;  but  it  is  often  observed  that  civil  wars  are  car- 
ried on  with  a  rancour  and  spirit  of  revenge  much  greater 
than  those  between  independent  states.  The  injuries  re- 
ceived or  supposed,  in  civil  wars,  wound  more  deeply  than 
those  of  foreign  enemies.  It  is,  therefore,  more  necessary 
to  guard  against  this  abuse,  and  recommend  that  meekness 
and  gentleness  of  spirit  which  is  the  noblest  attendant  on 
true  valour.  That  man  will  fight  most  bravely  who  never 
begins  to  fight  till  it  is  necessary,  and  who  ceases  to  fight 
as  soon  as  the  necessity  is  over. 

"  Lastly,  we  would  recommend  to  all  the  societies  under 
our  care,  not  to  content  themselves  with  attending  devoutly 
on  general  fasts,  but  to  continue  habitually  in  the  exercise 
of  prayer,  and  to  have  frequent  occasional  voluntary  meet- 
ings for  solemn  intercession  with  God  on  this  important 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  493 

trial.  Those  who  are  immediately  exposed  to  danger  need 
your  sympathy;  and  we  learn  from  the  Scriptures,  that  fer- 
vency and  importunity  are  the  very  characters  of  that 
prayer  of  the  righteous  man  that  availeth  much.  We  con- 
clude with  our  most  earnest  prayer,  that  the  God  of  heaven 
may  bless  you  in  your  temporal  and  spiritual  concerns,  and 
that  the  present  unnatural  dispute  may  be  speedily  termi- 
nated by  an  equitable  and  lasting  settlement  on  constitu- 
tional principles." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Halsey,  it  is  recorded,  dissented  from  that 
paragraph  of  the  above  letter,  which  contains  the  declara- 
tions of  allegiance.  This  gentleman,  it  seems,  was  at  least 
a  year  in  advance,  not  only  of  the  synod,  but  of  congress. 
This  pastoral  letter  contains  a  decided  and  unanimous  ex- 
pression, on  the  part  of  the  synod,  of  the  side  which  it  took 
in  the  great  struggle  for  the  liberties  of  America.  It  cer- 
tainly does  them  and  the  church  which  they  represented, 
great  honour.  They  adhered  to  the  last  to  the  duties  which 
they  owed  their  sovereign;  they  approved  of  demanding  no 
new  liberties;  they  required  only  the  secure  possession  of 
privileges  which  they  were  entitled  to  consider  as  their 
birth-right. 

A  month  after  the  publication  of  this  letter  the  presbyte- 
rian  clergymen  of  Philadelphia,  published  an  address  to 
the  ministers  and  presbyterian  congregations  of  the  county 

of ,  in  North  Carolina.    It  seems  that  there  were  some 

presbyterians  in  that  province,  who  hesitated  as  to  the 
course  which  they  ought  to  take  in  the  coming  conflict 
This  is  the  more  to  be  wondered  at,  as  North  Carolina  was 
in  advance  of  almost  any  province  on  the  continent  in  its 
opposition  to  the  British  authorities.  They  had  already 
driven  away  their  governor,  and  set  up  a  government  of 
their  own;  and  on  the  20th  of  May,  1775,  was  issued  tlie 

42 


494  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

famous  Mecklenburg  declaration  of  independence,  more 
than  a  year  before  congress  ventured  upon  that  step.  The 
name  of  the  county  is  left  blank  in  the  title  page  of  this 
address.  The  Philadelphia  ministers  say  to  their  North 
Carolina  brethren:  "  It  adds  greatly  to  our  distress  to  hear 
that  you  are  some  how  led  aside  from  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  freedom,  by  men  who  have  given  you  an  unfair  repre- 
sentation of  the  debate  between  the  parent  country  and  her 
colonies."  They  make  strong  professions  of  loyalty,  and 
appeal  to  the  declarations  of  congress  on  the  subject;  and 
add,  "We  want  no  new  privileges;  let  us  continue  con- 
nected with  them  as  we  were  before  the  stamp  act,  and  we 
demand  no  more."  They  refer  also  to  the  pastoral  letter 
of  the  synod,  which  they  beg  their  brethren  to  read.  They 
then  recount  the  grievances  of  the  country,  especially  the 
claim  on  the  part  of  the  British  parliament,  of  the  power 
"to  make  laws  to  bind  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  By 
virtue  of  this  power,"  it  is  added,  "  they  have  established 
popery  in  Quebec,  and  the  arbitrary  laws  of  France,  and 
why  may  they  not  do  the  same  in  Pennsylvania  or  North 
Carohna?"  "What  shall  we  then  do,"  it  is  asked,  "in 
these  days  of  trouble  and  distress?  We  must  put  our  trust 
in  God,  who  is  a  present  help  in  the  time  of  trouble;  but 
we  nmst  depend  on  him  in  the  use  of  means;  we  must 
unite,  if  possible,  as  one  man,  to  maintain  our  just  rights; 
not  by  fire  and  sword,  or  by  shedding  the  blood  of  our  fel- 
low subjects,  unless  we  are  driven  to  it  in  self-defence,  but 
by  strictly  observing  such  resolutions  neither  to  export  nor 
import  goods,  as  may  be  recommended  by  our  general  con- 
gress." Signed  July  10th,  by  Francis  Alison,  James  Sproat, 
George  Duffield,  and  Robert  Davidson. 

The  presbytery  of  Hanover,  in  a  memorial  presented  to 
the  legislature  of  Virginia  in  1776,  expressed  with  earnest- 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  495 

ness  their  hearty  adoption  of  their  country's  cause.  '•  Your 
memoriahsts,"  they  say,  "are  governed  by  the  same  senti- 
ments which  have  inspired  the  United  States  of  America; 
and  are  determined  that  nothing  in  our  power  or  influence 
shall  be  wanting  to  give  success  to  their  common  cause. 
We  would  also  represent  that  dissenters  from  the  church  of 
England,  in  this  country,  have  ever  been  desirous  to  con- 
duct themselves  as  peaceable  members  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment, for  which  reason  they  have  hitherto  submitted  to 
several  ecclesiastical  burdens  and  restrictions,  that  are  in- 
consistent with  equal  liberty.  But  now  when  the  many 
and  grievous  oppressions  of  our  mother  country  have  laid 
this  continent  under  the  necessity  of  casting  off  the  yoke  of 
tyranny,  and  of  forming  independent  governments  upon 
equitable  and  liberal  foundations,  we  flatter  ourselves  we 
shall  be  freed  from  all  the  incumbrances  which  a  spirit  of 
domination,  prejudice,  or  bigotry,  hath  interwoven  with  our 
political  systems.  This  we  are  the  more  strongly  encou- 
raged to  expect,  by  the  declaration  of  rights,  so  universally 
applauded  for  that  dignity,  firmness,  and  precision  with 
which  it  delineates  and  asserts  the  privileges  of  society,  and 
the  prerogatives  of  human  nature,  and  which  we  embrace 
as  the  magna  charta  of  our  commonwealth,  that  can  never 
be  violated  without  endangering  the  grand  superstructure  it 
was  destined  to  sustain."  ^ 

As  at  the  beginning,  so  also  at  the  close  of  the  war,  the 
synod  directed  a  pastoral  letter  to  their  congregations  ex- 
pressing their  sentiments  in  relation  to  the  contest.  In  (he 
letter  written  in  1783,  they  say:  "We  cannot  help  congra- 
tulating you  on  the  general  and  almost  universal  attachment 
of  the  presbyterian  body,  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  the 
rights  of  mankind.     This  has  been  visible  in  their  conduct, 

•  Presbyterian  Churcb  in  Virginia,  by  Dr.  J.  II.  Rice,  p.  21. 


496  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

and  has  been  confessed  by  the  complaints  and  resentment 
of  the  common  enemy.  Such  a  circumstance  ought  not 
only  to  afford  us  satisfaction  on  the  review,  as  bringing 
credit  to  the  body  in  general,  but  to  increase  our  gratitude 
to  God  for  the  happy  issue  of  the  war.  Had  it  been  unsuc- 
cessful, we  must  have  drunk  deeply  of  the  cup  of  suffering. 
Our  burnt  and  wasted  churches,  and  our  plundered  dwel- 
lings, in  such  places  as  fell  under  the  power  of  our  adver- 
saries, are  but  an  earnest  of  what  we  must  have  suffered, 
had  they  finally  prevailed. 

"  The  synod,  therefore,  request  you  to  render  thanks  to 
Almighty  God,  for  all  his  mercies  spiritual  and  temporal; 
and  in  a  particular  manner  for  establishing  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  United  Stat&s  of  America.  He  is  the  supreme 
disposer,  and  to  Him  belong  the  glory,  the  victory,  and  the 
majesty.  We  are  persuaded  you  will  easily  recollect  many 
circumstances  in  the  course  of  the  struggle,  which  point  out 
his  special  and  signal  interposition  in  our  favour.  Our 
most  remarkable  successes  have  generally  been  when  things 
had  just  before  worn  the  most  unfavourable  aspect;  as  at 
Trenton  and  Saratoga  at  the  beginning,  in  South  Carolina 
and  Virginia  towards  the  end  of  the  war."  They  specify 
among  other  mercies  the  assistance  derived  from  France,  and 
the  happy  selection  "  of  a  commander  in  chief  of  the  armies 
of  the  United  States,  who,  in  this  important  and  difficult 
charge,  has  given  universal  satisfaction,  who  was  alike 
acceptable  to  the  citizen  and  the  soldier,  to  the  state  in 
which  he  was  born,  and  to  every  other  on  the  continent; 
and  whose  character  and  influence,  after  so  long  service, 
are  not  only  unimpaired  but  augmented." 

In  a  history  designed  to  exhibit  the  character  of  the  pres- 
byterian  church,  some  notice  of  the  part  taken  by  its  mem- 
bers, and  especially  by  its  ministers,  in  an  event  so  impor- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  497 

tant  as  the  revolutionary  war,  to  the  rehgious  as  well  as  the 
civil  destiny  of  our  country,  could  not  be  omitted.  Enough 
has  been  said  to  show  that  her  influence  was  thrown  upon 
the  side  of  liberty;  upon  that  side  which  the  most  scrupu- 
lous Christian  moralist,  unless  he  denies  the  lawfulness  of 
war  under  all  circumstances,  must  pronounce  to  be  the  side 
of  justice  and  of  human  happiness.  We  now  turn  to  the 
more  strictly  ecclesiastical  portion  of  our  narrative. 


FORMATION    OF    THE    NEW    CONSTITUTION. 

The  great  increase  of  the  church,  and  the  manifold  incon- 
veniences consequent  on  all  the  ministers  being  required  to 
attend  every  year  the  meetings  of  the  synod,  led  in  1786  to 
the  adoption  of  the  resolution:  That  the  synod  would  estab- 
lish out  of  its  own  body,  three  or  more  synods;  out  of 
which  shall  be  composed  a  general  assembly,  synod,  or 
council,  agreeably  to  a  system  hereafter  to  be  adopted.  A 
committee  was  accordingly  appointed  to  prepare  a  plan  of 
division.  This  committee  recommended  the  formation  of 
four  synods,  viz:  First,  the  synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  to  be  composed  of  the  presbyteries  of  Dutchess,  Suf- 
folk, New  York,  and  New  Brunswick.  Second,  the  synod 
of  Philadelphia  to  consist  of  the  presbyteries  of  Philadel- 
phia, Lewes,  Newcastle,  Baltimore,  and  Carlisle.  Third, 
the  synod  of  Virginia  to  include  the  presbyteries  of  Red- 
stone, Hanover,  Lexington,  and  Transylvania.  Fourth, 
the  synod  of  the  Carolinas  to  consist  of  the  presbyteries  of 
Abingdon,  Orange,  and  South  Carolina.  The  committee 
further  recommended  the  formation  of  a  general  assembly 
to  be  composed  of  delegates  from  the  several  presbyteries  in 
the  proportion  of  one  minister  and  one  elder  for  every  six 
members.     This  report  was  subsequently  adopted,  but  the 

42* 


498  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

proposed  division  was  not  to  take  effect  until  the  formation 
of  the  new  constitution. 

In  order  to  prepare  such  a  constitution,  the  synod  ap- 
pointed Drs.  Witherspoon,  Rodgers,  Sproat,  Duffield,  Alison, 
and  Ewing,  Mr.  Matthew  Wilson  and  Dr.  Smith  ministers, 
and  Isaac  Snowden,  Robert  Taggart,  and  John  Pinkerton, 
elders,  a  committee  to  examine  the  book  of  discipline  and 
government,  and  digest  such  a  system  as  they  should  think 
adapted  to  the  state  of  the  presbyterian  church  in  America. 
As  soon  as  this  draught  was  ready,  the  committee  were 
directed  to  have  it  printed  and  sent  down  to  the  presbyte- 
ries, who  were  required  to  report  in  writing  their  observa- 
tions upon  it  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  synod.  This  com- 
mittee performed  the  duty  assigned  them;  and  in  17S7,  the 
presbyteries  were  called  upon  for  their  observations  on  the 
plan  which  had  been  submitted  to  their  consideration.  The 
plan  was  then  discussed  at  much  length,  section  by  section, 
and  various  amendments  adopted.  When  this  process  was 
completed,  the  form  of  government  thus  adopted  was 
printed,  and  again  transmitted  to  the  presbyteries  "  for  their 
consideration,  and  for  the  consideration  of  the  churches 
under  their  care." 

The  synod  then  "  took  into  consideration  the  last  para- 
graph of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith;  the  third  paragraph  of  the  twenty-third 
chapter,  and  the  first  paragraph  of  the  thirty-first  chapter, 
and  having  made  some  alterations,  agreed  that  the  said 
paragraphs  as  now  altered,  be  printed  for  consideration 
together  with  the  draught  of  a  plan  of  government  and 
discipline.  The  synod  also  appointed  a  committee  to  revise 
the  Westminster  Directory  for  public  worship,  and  to  have 
it,  when  thus  revised,  printed  together  with  the  draught, 
for  consideration.     And  the  synod  agreed,  that  when  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  499 

above  proposed  alterations  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  shall 
have  been  finally  determined  upon  by  this  body,  and  the 
Directory  shall  have  been  revised  as  above  directed  and 
adopted  by  the  synod,  the  said  Confession  thus  altered,  and 
the  Directory  thus  revised  and  adopted,  shall  be  styled,  The 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Directory  for  public  worship  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

It  appears  that  the  synod  were  not  entirely  unanimous, 
at  least  in  the  first  instance,  in  reference  to  these  measures. 
When  the  proposed  plan  of  government  was  transmitted  to 
the  presbytery  of  Suffolk,  that  body  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  synod,  "praying  that  the  union  between  them  and  the 
synod  might  be  dissolved."  The  synod  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  attend  a  meeting  of  that  presbytery,  and  to  enter 
on  a  free  conversation  with  them  on  the  nature  of  their 
difficulties.  At  the  same  time  the  following  letter  was  sent 
to  the  presbytery  in  question. 

"  Reverend  and  dear  Brethren: 

"We  received  a  letter  from  you  dated,  April  11,  1787, 
which  both  surprised  and  grieved  us,  by  informing  us  '  that 
you  think  it  needful  that  the  union  between  you  and  us 
should  be  dissolved.'  We  are  surprised  that  a  matter  of  so 
much  importance  as  breaking  the  peace  and  unity  of  the 
church  should  be  so  suddenly  gone  into,  without  our  receiv- 
ing any  information  of  the  matter  in  respect  to  any  previous 
things  leading  to  such  an  event.  We  declare  that  we  have 
done  nothing,  which  we  know  of,  that  should  be  so  much 
as  a  matter  of  offence  to  you,  much  less  a  ground  of  with- 
drawment  or  separation.  We  have  always  supposed  that 
you  as  brethren  with  us,  believed  in  the  general  system  of 
doctrine,  discipline,  worship,  and  church  government,  as  the 
same  is  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 


500  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Catechisms,  and  Directory.  You  inform  us  'that  your  local 
situation  renders  it  inconvenient  to  maintain  the  union.' 
This  is  the  same  that  ever  it  was,  when  we  took  sweet 
counsel  together,  strengthened  each  others'  hands  in  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  our  dear  Redeemer,  stood  firm 
in  opposition  to  the  enemies  of  our  religion,  and  greatly 
comforted  and  encouraged  one  another. 

«  You  say, '  that  concurrence  with  the  draught  of  the  form 
of  government  and  discipline  for  the  presbyterian  church  in 
North  America  is  impracticable.'  That  is  only  a  draught 
or  overture  for  amendment,  and  we  should  have  rejoiced 
much  to  have  had  your  company  and  aid  in  pointing  out 
those  impracticabilities,  and  in  altering,  correcting,  and 
completing  the  said  draught.  We  apprehend  that  there  are 
no  principles  in  it  different  from  the  Westminster  Direc- 
tory; only  the  same  rendered  more  explicit  in  some  things, 
and  more  conformable  to  the  state  and  circumstances  of  the 
presbyterian  church  in  America. 

"You  likewise  add  'the  churches  in  your  limits  will  not 
comply  therewith.'  Perhaps  those  churches,  from  some 
cause  unknown  to  us,  may  have  hastily  imbibed  groundless 
prejudices,  which  by  taking  some  pains  with  them,  and  by 
giving  a  proper  explanation  of  the  matter,  might  be  readily 
removed.  We  are  fully  of  opinion  that  the  general  princi- 
ples in  the  said  draught  contain  the  plan  of  church  disci- 
pline and  government  revealed  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
are  conformable,  (allowance  being  made  for  the  ditierences 
in  the  states  of  civil  society  and  local  circumstances,)  to  the 
practices  and  usages  of  the  best  reformed  churches. 

"  Wherefore,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  in  the  bowels  of 
brotherly  love,  we  intreat  you  to  reconsider  the  resolution 
expressed  in  your  letter.  You  well  know  that  it  is  not  a 
small  thing  to  rend  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ,  or  to  be  dis- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  501 

joined  parts  of  that  one  body  his  church.  We  are  all  mem- 
bers one  of  another.  There  should  be  no  schism  in  the 
body,  but  we  should  comfort,  encourage,  and  strengthen 
one  another  by  the  firmest  union  in  our  common  Lord. 
We  are  presbyterians,  and  we  firmly  believe  the  presbyte- 
rian  system  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  church  government, 
to  be  nearer  to  the  word  of  God  than  that  of  any  other  sect 
or  denomination  of  Christians.  Shall  all  other  sects  and 
parties  be  united  among  themselves  for  their  support  and 
increase,  and  presbyterians  divided  and  subdivided,  so  as 
to  be  the  scorn  of  some  and  the  prey  of  others?  In  order 
to  testify  to  you  the  high  sense  we  entertain  of  the  impor- 
tance of  union  in  the  presbyterian  body  in  America,  we 
have  appointed  a  committee,  viz:  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rodgers, 
Dr.  McWhorter,  Mr.  Roe,  Mr.  John  WoodhuU,  and  Mr. 
Davenport,  to  wait  on  you,  to  converse  with  you,  and  to 
endeavour  to  remove  difficulties. 

"Therefore  we  request  the  moderator  of  your  presbytery 
to  call  the  same  together  to  meet  our  committee  at  Hun- 
tingdon on  the  first  Wednesday  in  September,  for  these 
purposes,  at  which  time  and  place  our  committee  are  ap- 
pointed to  attend.  That  you  may,  in  a  spirit  of  candour 
and  love,  reconsider  your  resolution,  and  continue  in  a  state 
of  union  with  us,  and  that  we  may,  by  our  united  efforts, 
advance  the  kingdom  of  our  glorious  Redeemer,  is  the 
earnest  prayer  of  your  affectionate  and  grieved  brethren." 

The  committee  above  named,  reported  the  following  year 
to  the  synod,  that  after  a  full  and  amicable  conference  with 
the  Suffolk  brethren,  the  latter  withdrew  their  request  for  a 
dismission,  as  appeared  from  the  following  extract  from 
their  minutes.  "  The  presbytery  of  Suffolk  met  at  Brook 
Haven,  April  8,  17SS,  according  to  appointment.     Entered 


502  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

upon  the  consideration  of  the  petition  sent  to  the  Rev. 
synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  at  their  last  sessions, 
requesting  a  dismission  from  their  body;  and  after  delibe- 
rating on  it,  came  to  the  following  conclusion,  viz:  to  with- 
draw the  petition." 

It  is  known  also,  that  the  Rev.  Matthew  Wilson  was  far 
from  being  satisfied  with  the  form  of  government  idtimately 
adopted.  The  only  intimation  of  this  fact  contained  in  the 
minutes  is  a  record  to  the  following  effect:  "A  petition 
from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Matthew  Wilson,  detained  by  bodily 
indisposition,  respecting  the  draught  of  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, was  presented  and  read.  Ordered,  that  it  lie  on  the 
table."  1 

•  Dr.  Matthew  Wilson,  though  an  old-side  man,  educated  under  Dr.  Alison, 
was  not  in  theory  a.  presbyterian,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  He 
seems  to  have  held  a  system  of  church  government  peculiar  to  himself, 
though  very  analogous  to  that  since  published  by  Mr.  Haldane,  in  Scotland. 
In  every  congregation  he  supposed  there  ought  to  be  a  presbytery,  composed 
of  the  pastor,  or  bishop,  and  presbyters;  which  presbyters  were  to  teach  or 
preach,  if  occasion  called  for  it.  He  questioned  the  propriety  of  presbyteries 
constituted  as  ours  are,  and  denied  the  authority  of  such  presbyteries,  and  of 
synods  over  churches  or  ministers.  There  is  extant  a  printed  sheet  contain- 
ing extracts  from  an  overture  of  his,  presented  to  the  synod  in  1774,  present- 
ing twenty-one  queries,  "  the  reasonings  in  support  of  which  had^  been  read 
before  the  synod."  The  following  selection  from  these  queries  may  serve  to 
give  an  idea  of  Dr.  Wilson's  views. 

"  1.  Whether  every  apostolic  and  primitive  church  had  not  its  bishop  oJ 
pastor,  and  deacons?  The  pastor  his  assistant  presbyters,  one  of  whom  was 
the  catechist  or  doctor  ?  The  deacons  their  assistant  widows  for  the  sick 
and  poor?" 

"  4.  Whether,  besides  the  preaching  of  the  word,  &c.  by  the  bishop  or 
pastor,  they  had  not,  in  every  congregational  church,  presbyters  ordained  to 
preach,  when  invited,  in  their  own  or  any  other  congregation?  Acts  xi.  19. 
1  Pet.  iv.  10,  11,  &c." 

"  5.  Whether  there  was  not  a  presbytery  in  every  church,  i.  e.  congrega- 
tion, or  city,  composed  of  its  proper  officers  at  least  ?     Whether  bishops  or 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  503 

It  does  not  appear  that  this  dissatisfaction  extended  to 
any  considerable  number  of  the  members;  at  least  there  is 
not  the  slightest  intimation  on  the  minutes  of  the  want  of 
perfect  unanimity,     It  is  there  recorded,  that  the  "  synod 

presbyteries  were  not  of  the  same  order  essentially,  having  the  power  of  the 
keys  in  foro  exteriore  et  interiore?  Tit.  i.  5 — 7.  Phil.  i.  1.  Acts  xx.  17. 
19,  (fee.  as  contended  for  by  Jerome,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  &,c." 

"  8.  Whether  Christ,  or  his  apostles,  appointed  any  stated  judicatories,  or 
vested  any  controlling  authority  in  any  bishop,  or  synod,  or  assembly,  over 
particular  churches,  or  presbyteries,  or  pastors?" 

"  15.  Whether  there  be  any  other  judicatures  besides  presbyteries  in  par- 
ticular congregations,  authorized  in  God's  word,  as  having  powers  of  ordina- 
tion and  discipline,  censures,  admission  and  rejection  of  officers  and  members 
of  the  church  ?" 

"  19.  Whether  the  meeting  of  pastors  and  lay-elders,  one  of  each  from 
every  congregation,  can  be  a  scriptural  presbytery  ?  Does  not  a  presbytery 
act  in  a  church,  and  a  church  consist  of  persons  assembled  for  worship, 
rather  than  mere  government  ?  Can  there  be  a  true  apostolic  presbytery, 
unless  all  the  officers  at  least  of  the  church  convene,  and  give  their  consent, 
or  the  majority  of  them,  in  every  affair  of  discipline  before  them  ?" 

"  21.  Finally,  whether,  from  Scripture  or  the  primitive  Christian  churches, 
those  councils  met  in  the  name  of  Christ,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  union, 
love,  peace,  and  edification,  in  the  way  of  mutual  communion,  and  agreeable 
holy  conversation  of  all  the  churches  together,  have  any  ehuicli  power  at  all 
properly  so  called  ?  Such  as  have  too  often  been  claimed  by  our  synods,  «&c. 
o]jer  any  churches,  their  members,  officers,  presbyteries,  temporalities,  as  to 
receiving  or  rejecting  memberc,  making  acts,  laws,  and  canons,  assuming 
the  power  of  presbyteries  to  admit  or  reject  pastors,  modelling  presbyteries, 
fixing  their  limits,  ordering  one  church  to  one,  and  another  to  another;  pre- 
venting young  presbyters  going  to  any  church  or  presbytery  which  they  may 
choose,  and  where  they  are  called  in  providence.  I  say,  whether  all  these, 
and  a  thousand  other  acts  of  church  power,  are  not  altogether  ordinances  of 
men,  and  as  really  anti-Christian  additions  to  the  apostolic  church  regimen 
and  order  as  diocesan  episcopacy  itself?     2  Cor.  i.  24." 

The  overture,  containing  these  queries,  was  presented  by  Dr.  Wilson  just 
after  the  difficulty  in  the  synod  about  the  rule  respecting  foreign  ministers, 
and  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Duffield  in  Philadelphia ;  on  both  which  occasions 
Dr.  Wilson  protested  against  the  action  of  the  synod  in  the  premises. 


504  PRESBYTEKIAN    CHURCH 

having  fully  considered  the  draught  of  the  form  of  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  did,  on  a  view  of  the  whole,  and  hereby 
do  ratify  and  adopt  the  same  as  now  altered  and  amended, 
as  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America, 
and  as  the  rule  of  their  proceedings  by  all  inferior  judica- 
tories belonging  to  this  body.  And  they  order  that  a  cor- 
rect copy  be  printed,  and  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  as  now  altered,  be  printed  in  full  along  with  it,  as 
part  of  the  constitution. 

^^  Resolved,  That  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the 
above  ratification  by  the  synod  is,  that  the  Form  of  Govern- 
ment and  Discipline,  and  the  Confession  of  Faith,  as  now 
ratified,  are  to  continue  to  be  our  constitution  and  confes- 
sion of  fahh,  and  practice  unalterably,  unless  two  thirds  of 
the  presbyteries,  under  the  care  of  the  general  assembly, 
shall  propose  alterations  or  amendments,  and  such  altera- 
tions or  amendments  shall  be  agreed  to  and  enacted  by  the 
general  assembly." 

The  synod  having  also  "  revised  and  corrected  the  Direc- 
tory for  Worship,  did  approve  and  ratify  the  same,  and  do 
hereby  appoint  the  said  Directory,  as  now  amended,  to  be 
the  Directory  for  the  public  worship  of  God  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America.  They  alsb 
took  into  consideration  the  W^estminster  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  and  having  made  a  small  amendment  of  the 
Larger,  did  approve,  and  do  hereby  approve  and  ratify  the 
said  Catechisms,  as  now  agreed  on,  as  the  Catechisms  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  And  the 
synod  order  that  the  said  Directory  and  Catechisms  be 
printed  and  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  with  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Form  of  Government  and  Discipline, 
and  that  the  whole  be  considered  as  our  standard  of  doc- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  505 

trine,  government,  discipline,  and  worship,  agreeably  to  tlie 
resolutions  of  the  synod  at  its  present  sessions. 

"  Ordered,  that  Dr.  DufReld,  Mr.  Armstrong,  and  Mr. 
Green,  be  a  committee  to  superintend  the  printing  and  pub- 
lishing of  the  above  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cate- 
chisms, with  the  Form  of  Govornment  and  Discipline,  and 
the  Directory  for  the  worship  of  God,  as  now  adopted  and 
ratified  by  the  synod,  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America;  and  that  they 
divide  the  several  parts  into  chapters  and  sections  properly 
numbered." 

After  this  work  was  finally  accomplished,  it  was  resolved 
unanimously,  "  That  this  synod  be  divided,  and  it  is  hereby 
divided  into  four  synods,  agreeably  to  an  act  made  and  pro- 
vided for  in  the  sessions  of  synod  in  the  year  1786,  and  this 
division  shall  commence  on  the  dissolution  of  the  present 
synod. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  general  assembly 
to  be  constituted  out  of  the  above  synods  be  held,  and  it  is 
hereby  appointed  to  be  held  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  in  the  Second 
Presbyterian  church  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  at  eleven 
o'clock  A.  M.;  and  that  Dr.  Witherspoon,  or,  in  case  of  his 
absence,  Dr.  Rodgers  open  the  general  assembly  with  a 
sermon,  and  preside  until  a  moderator  be  chosen." 

After  appointing  the  time  and  place  of  meeting  of  the 
several  synods,  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
was  dissolved ;  and  the  session  was  concluded  with  prayer. 
Thus  closed  the  career  of  this  venerable  synod,  after  an 
existence  of  thirty  years  actively  and  usefully  employed. 
During  this  period  the  church  had  rapidly  increased.  The 
synod  had  received  an  accession  of  about  two  hundred  and 
thirty  new  members;  it  had  grown  from  eight  to  sixteen 

43 


506  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

presbyteries,  and  had  under  its  care  above  four  hundred 
and  twenty  congregations.  ^  Of  these  about  forty  were  in 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  three  hundred  and  eighty  in 
the  middle  and  southern  states.  Nothing  could  prove  more 
decisively  the  origin  and  general  character  of  the  great  mass 
of  our  church,  up  to  this  period.  The  overwhelming  majo- 
rity of  its  members  were  located  in  those  portions  of  the 
country  which  had  been  settled  by  Scotch  and  Irish  pres- 
byterians. 

With  regard  to  the  synod  it  may  be  remarked  that  it  con- 
sisted in  the  general,  of  liberally  educated  men.  Of  the  two 
hundred  and  thirty  new  members,  more  or  less,  received 
after  the  union  in  175S,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
were  graduates  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  and  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  graduates  of  Yale.  Of  the  residue 
many  were  educated  in  Europe,  or  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  or  at  the  Newark  academy  in  Delaware,  or 
at  Pequea,  or,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  period  under 
review,  at  Hampden  Sydney  college,  or  at  the  Washington 
Academy  in  Virginia.  It  hence  appears,  that  the  great 
body   of  our  ministers,  as   well  as  of  our  people,  were 

'  It  appears  from  a  printed  list  of  the  ministers  and  congregations  pub- 
lished in  1788,  that  there  were  then  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  ministers 
connected  with  the  synod,  and  four  hundred  and  nineteen  congregations 
reported,  as  follows:  Suffolk  presbytery,  thirteen  Congregations;  Dutchess 
nine ;  New  York  thirty-nine ;  New  Brunswick  twenty-six ;  Philadelphia 
twenty-two;  Newcastle  twenty-seven;  Lewes  nineteen;  Baltimore  twelve; 
Carlisle  fifty-six  ;  Redstone  twenty-seven  ;  Lexington  twenty-seven  ;  Hano- 
ver twenty-one  ;  Orange  seventy-one  ;  Abingdon  twenty-five  ;  South  Carolina 
forty-five ;  Transylvania  no  report.  As  this  presbytery  consisted  of  five 
ministers,  it  had  probably  ten  congregations  under  its  care.  As  the  presby- 
tery of  new  York  then  included  the  territory  now  embraced  within  the  limits 
of  the  presbyteries  of  Newark  and  Elizabethtown,  nineteen  or  twenty  of  its 
congregations  were  in  New  Jersey  ;  leaving  the  number  of  congregations  in 
the  state  of  New  York  forty-one  or  forty -two. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  507 

born  and  educated  within  the  bosom  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

The  members  of  this  synod  were,  to  a  remarkable  degree, 
harmonious  in  their  doctrinal  views.  There  is  no  indica- 
tion of  diversity  of  opinion  on  any  important  subject;  there 
were  no  doctrinal  controversies,  and  but  one  instance  of  the 
infliction  of  censure  for  erroneons  opinions.  Besides  this 
negative  evidence,  we  have  the  positive  proof  to  be  found 
in  the  frequent  declarations  of  the  adherence  of  the  synod 
to  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  the  unanimous  adoption 
of  that  formula  as  a  part  of  the  new  constitution.  ^ 

The  strictly  presbyterian  character  of  the  synod  is  mani- 
fest from  its  records,  which  may  challenge,  as  to  this  point, 
a  comparison  with  those  of  any  similar  body.  The  men 
who  professed  to  derive  their  ecclesiastical  "origin  from 
the  church  of  Scotland;"  who  declared  that  they  "  adopted 
her  standards  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship,"  and 
whose  ecclesiastical  proceedings  are  so  fully  in  accordance 
with  their  professions,  cannot  be  suspected  of  a  want  of 
presbyterianism. 

A  much  more  interesting  point  is  the  religious  character 
of  the  synod.  On  this  subject  little  can  be  learned  from  the 
minutes.     The  impression,  however,  made  by  the  plan  of 

'  In  an  interesting  letter  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  King,  of  Franklin  county, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  there  is  a  strong  testimony  to  the  unanimity  of 
the  synod  in  reference  to  matters  of  doctrine.  He  tells  his  correspondent, 
"  I  think  that  our  synod  will  be  very  cautious,  as  they  have  hitherto  been, 
with  respect  to  the  admission  of  ministers  from  Europe,  and  especially  from 
such  places  as  are  suspected  of  encouraging  Arminianism,  &,c.  and  where 
they  are  so  lax  as  to  the  admission  of  candidates.  It  is  a  particular  happiness 
for  us  as  yet,  that  we  have  been  cautious,  and  divine  providence  has  favoured 
our  endeavours;  for  I  do  not  know  that  any  minister  belonging  to  our  synod 
can  be  reasonably  suspected  of  leaning  to  any  but  the  Calvinistic  scheme." 
This  letter  was  written  in  answer  to  one  dated  April  13th,  1775. — See  Pitts- 
burgh Herald,  April  22,  1836. 


508  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

union  adopted  in  1758;  by  the  tone  and  sentiments  of  the 
numerous  documents  having  reference  to  practical  subjects; 
by  the  frequent  appointment  of  days  for  special  religious 
observance;  by  the  care  taken  to  promote  the  religious 
education  of  the  young,  and  to  maintain  a  high  standard  of 
piety  in  the  ministry;  and  by  the  efforts  made  to  extend  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel  to  the  destitute,  is  that,  as  a  body, 
the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  was  distinguished 
for  its  piety.  And  this  impression  is  confirmed  by  the  fact, 
that  so  large  a  number  of  its  members  are  still  held  in 
grateful  remembrance  as  devoted  servants  of  God. 

As  to  the  state  of  religion  throughout  the  church  during 
this  period,  neither  the  limits  of  this  work,  nor  the  mate- 
rials at  the  command  of  the  writer,  admit  of  its  being  here 
fully  considered.  It  is  known  that,  in  general,  the  gospel 
was  faithfully  preached,  that  many  new  churches  were 
organized,  and  old  congregations  were  enlarged.  It  is 
known,  also,  that  in  many  parts  of  the  church  there  were 
revivals  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  Under  the  administra- 
tion of  Dr.  Finley,  there  was,  as  already  mentioned,  a  revi- 
val in  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  during  which  about  fifty 
of  the  students  became  members  of  the  church.  There 
were  frequent  seasons  of  this  kind  also  in  Pennsylvania, 
especially  under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  McMillan,  Mr.  J. 
Smith,  and  Mr.  Powers.  With  regard  to  Virginia,  it  is 
stated,  "  that  from  the  consitution  of  the  Hanover  presby- 
tery, (1755,)  to  the  removal  of  Mr.  Davies,  (1759,)  the  pro- 
gress of  religion  was  more  rapid  than  from  that  time  to  the 
division  of  the  presbytery,  (1770.)  In  the  latter  of  these 
periods,  it  appears  to  have  been  declining  as  to  the  life  and 
pov\rer  of  it,  in  those  places  where  before  it  was  most  flou- 
rishing; but  it  spread  to  other  places,  and  the  church  was 
extended  much  further  during  this  period.     And  though 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  509 

there  was  no  remarkable  revival  of  religion,  it  was  gra- 
dually taking  root  in  a  few  in  many  places."  ^  The  period 
from  the  division  of  the  presbytery  until  the  formation  of 
the  general  assembly,  was  marked  by  several  revivals. 
That  which  occurred  within  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery 
of  Hanover,  "was  begun  and  carried  on  principally  under 
the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Smith,  who  had  charge  of 
the  congregations  of  Cumberland  and  Briery.  The  word 
at  this  time  appeared  to  have  a  peculiar  effect  on  the  minds 
of  the  people.  All  who  attended  seemed  to  feel  in  some 
measure;  and  many  were  deeply  affected,  turned  from 
their  wicked  practices,  and  earnestly  engaged  in  seeking 
the  favour  of  God.  Some  of  these  impressions  soon  wore 
off,  but  generally  they  continued  for  some  time.  A  consi- 
derable number  of  those  that  were  awakened  obtained  a 
comfortable  hope  of  their  acceptance  with  God,  and  joined 
the  church.  The  manner  of  the  Spirit's  operation  was 
similar  to  what  has  been  known  in  revivals,  very  various, 
yet  producing  the  same  effects  in  essential  points.  This 
work  seemed  to  go  on  for  several  years,  without  any  abate- 
ment of  the  fervour  which  appeared  at  first;  but,  as  might 
be  expected,  this  at  length  subsided."^  It  is  further  stated, 
that,  "  at  this  time  a  greater  attention  to  religion  than  usual 
prevailed  through  the  whole  country." 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  there  "  was  a  very  considerable 
revival  within  the  bounds  of  the  Lexington  presbytery.  It 
began,  and  continued  to  prevail  most,  in  the  congregations 
of  Lexington  and  New  Monmouth,  which  were  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  William  Graham,  but  extended 
more  or  less  into  all  the  congregations  within  the  bounds  of 
the  presbytery.  It  prevailed  considerably  in  Washington 
Academy,  so  that  many  who  were  at  that  place,  have  since 

'  MS.  History  of  tiie  Cliurch  in  Virginia.  -  Ibid. 

43* 


510  PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,    ETC. 

been  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  are  now 
settled  in  the  congregations  of  this  and  the  adjoining  pres- 
byteries." ' 

The  effects  of  the  revolutionary  war  on  the  state  of  our 
church  were  extensively  and  variously  disastrous.  The 
young  men  were  called  from  the  seclusion  of  their  homes 
to  the  demoralizing  atmosphere  of  a  camp;  congregations 
were  broken  up ;  churches  were  burnt,  and  in  more  than 
one  instance  pastors  were  murdered;  the  usual  ministe- 
riai  intercourse  and  efforts  for  the  dissemination  of  the  gos- 
pel, were  in  a  great  measure  suspended,  and  public  morals 
in  various  respects  deteriorated.  From  these  effects  it  took 
the  church  a  considerable  time  to  recover;  but  she  shared, 
through  the  blessing  of  God,  in  the  returning  health  and 
prosperity  of  the  country,  and  has  since  grown  with  the 
growth,  and  strengthened  with  the  strength,  of  our  highly 
favoured  nation. 

1  MS.  history  prepared  by  the  Lexington  presbytery. 


A    L  I  S  T 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADEL- 
PHIA,  FROM  1758  TO  1788,  INCLUSIVE. 

The  years  as  given  in  the  Hst,  indicate  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  names  of  the  new  members  on  the  minutes, 
which  was  in  many  cases  some  years  after  their  ordination. 
The  letter  P.  is  placed  after  the  names  of  the  graduates  of 
the  college  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey;  Y.  after  those  of  the 
graduates  of  Yale;  and  H.  after  the  graduates  of  Harvard. 
The  word  "received,"  is  placed  after  the  names  of  those 
who  were  admitted  as  ordained  ministers  from  other 
churches;  and  the  place  whence  they  were  received  is 
mentioned,  whenever  it  was  stated  on  the  minutes.  ^ 


1758. 


Presbyteries. 
Philadelphia, 


New  Castle, 


Gilbert  Tennent, 
Charles  Beatty, 
Richard  Treat,  Y. 
Henry  Martin,  P. 
Robert  Cross, 
Francis  Alison, 
Benjamin  Chesnut, 

P. 
Andrew  Hunter, 
Nehemiah    Green- 
man,  Y. 
William   Ramsey, 

David  Laurence, 
John  Kinkead, 
John  Griffiths, 
George  Gillespie, 
John  Rodgers, 


Presbyteries. 
New  Castle, 


New  York, 


Adam  Boyd, 
Samuel  Finley, 
Hector  Alison, 
Daniel  Thane,  P. 
Charles  Tennent, 
William    McKen- 

nan, 
Alexander  McDow- 
ell, 
James  Finley, 
John  Blair, 
Alexander    Huche- 

son, 
Andrew  Sterling, 
Andrew  Day, 
David  Bostwick, 
Andrew  Kittletas, 

Y. 
Aaron  Richards,  Y. 


'  It  was  found  very  difficult  to  make  out  the  list  of  members  here  given, 
on  account  of  the  great  diversity  in  the  orthography  of  the  names  as  written 
in  the  minutes;  to  the  frequent  omission  of  a  full  record  of  the  absent  mem- 
bers, and  to  various  other  sources  of  perplexity. 


512 


Presbyteries. 
New  York, 


Nathaniel   Whita- 

ker,  P. 
Caleb  Smith, 
Alexander  Cum- 


mings, 

"  John  Brainerd,  Y. 

"  John  Pierson,  Y. 

«'  Timothy  Jones,  Y. 

"  Jacob  Green,  H. 

"  Jonathan  Elmore, 

Y. 

"  Simon  Horton,  Y. 

"  John  Smith, 

"  Chauncy  Graham, 

Y. 

"  Enos  Ayres,  P. 

»  John  Moffat,  P. 

"  John  Darby, 

«  Timothy  Allen,  Y. 

"  John  Maltby,  Y. 

"  Hugh  Knox,  P. 

"  Silas  Leonard,  Y. 

Suffolk,  Ebenezer  Prime,  Y. 

"  Benjamin  Talmage, 

Y. 

"  Abner  Reeves,  Y. 

"  James  Brown,  Y. 

"  Sylvanus  White, 

«'  Samuel  Buel,  Y. 

"  Samuel  Sackett, 

«  Eliphalet  Ball,  Y. 

"  Thomas  Lewis,  Y. 
New  Brunswick,  William  Tennent, 

"  Samuel  Kennedy, 

P. 

"  Charles  McKnight, 

«  Benjamin  Hait,  P. 
"  David  Cowell,  H. 

«  John  Guild,  H. 

"  Job  Pruddren,  Y. 
"  Israel  Read,  P. 

"  Elihu  Spencer,  Y. 

"  James  McCrea, 

"  Conradus  Wurtz, 

"  Samuel  Harker, 

Donegal,  Joseph  Tate, 

"  George  Duffield,  P. 

«  John' Steel, 

"  John  Rowan, 

«  John  Elder, 

"  Samson  Smith, 

"  Robert  McMurdie, 

"  Samuel  Thompson, 

"  Robert  Smith, 

"  John  Hoge,  P. 


Presbyteries. 
Lewes, 


Hanover, 


Suffolk, 
New  York, 


Hanover, 


Matthew  Wilson, 
John  Miller, 
Hugh  Henry,  P. 
Moses  'I'uttle,  Y, 
John  Harris,  P. 
Samuel  Davies, 
Robert  Henry,  P. 
Alexander  Creag- 

head, 
Samuel  Black, 
John  Craig, 
Alexander  Miller, 
John  Wright, 
John  Brown,  P. 
John  Martin, 
HughMcCadden,P. 
Richard  Sankey, 
John  Todd,  P. 


1759. 

Moses  Baldwin,  P. 

Abner  Brush,  P. 

Benjamin  Wood- 
ruff, P. 

Henry  Patillo, 

William  Richard- 
son. 


1760. 

New  Castle,  John  Ewing,  P. 

Philadelphia,  James  Latta, 

New  Brunswick,  William  Kirkpa- 

trick,  P. 
"  Alexander  Mc- 

Whorter,  P. 


1761. 

New  Brunswick,  James  Caldwell,  P. 
John  Clark,  P. 
"  James  Hunt,  P. 

"  John  Hanna,  P. 

Philadelphia,  John  Simonton, 

"  John  Beard, 

New  Castle,  John  Strain,  P. 

"  John  Carmichael, 

P. 
Suffolk,  Ezra  Reeves,  Y. 


513 


1762. 

Presbyteries. 
New  York,  Azel  Roe,  P. 

New  Brunswick,  Samuel  Parkhurst, 
P. 
«*  Joseph  Treat,  P. 

"  William  Mills,  P. 

Lewes,  Joseph  Montgo- 

mery, P. 


1763. 

New  Brunswick,  William  Tennent, 
jun'r.  P. 
"  Enoch  Green,  P. 

Hanover,  James  Waddel, 

Dutchess,  Elisha  Kent,  Y.  in 

1729, 
"  Solomon  Mead,  Y. 

"  John  Peck. 


1766. 


1764. 


Suffolk, 


Thomas  Payne,  Y. 
received. 

New  Brunswick,  Amos  Thompson, 
P. 
"  Jacob  Ker,  P. 

"  Nathan  Ker,  P. 

"  Thomas  Smith,  P. 

Suffolk,  Nehemiah  Baker, 

Y.  in  1742. 


1765. 


Presbyteries. 
Donegal, 

Philadelphia, 
New  Castle, 
Suffolk, 


Suffolk, 


New  York, 
New  Brunswick, 


Hanover, 
Lewes, 


Samson  Occam,  an 
Indian, 

Benjamin  Gold- 
smith, Y. 

Francis  Peppard,  P. 

James  Lyon,  P. 

John  Roseborough, 
P. 

Jonathan  Leavitt, 
Y.  received  from 
New  England. 

David  Rice,"  P. 

Alexander  Houston, 
P. 


John  Siemens,  P. 

Robert  Cooper,  P. 

John  Murray,  > 

Samuel  Blair,  P. 

_„ ,  David  Rose,  Y. 

New  Brunswick,  David  Caldwell,  P. 
2d  Philadelphia,    Patrick  Alison, 
Dutchess,  Samuel  Dunlap, 

«  Wheeler  Case,  P. 


1767. 


Suffolk, 
New  York, 


Elam  Potter,  Y. 
John  Close,  P. 
Jedediah  Chap- 
man, Y. 


1768. 


New  Brunswick,  Jeremiah  Halsey, 
P. 


Donegal, 

2d  Philadelphia, 

Lewes, 


John  Craighead,  P. 
James  Lang, 
Thomas  McCrack- 

in,  P. 
John  Bacon,  P. 


1769. 

1st  Philadelphia,  Alexander  Mitchell, 
P. 
"  James  Sproat,  Y. 

received    from 
New  England, 
New  Castle,  John  McCreary,  P. 

«  William  Foster,  P. 

"  Joseph  Smith,  P. 

"  Daniel  McClealand, 

received. 
New  York,  James  Tuttle,  P. 

New  Brunswick,  John  Witherspoon, 
received  from 
Scotland. 
Hanover,  James  Creswell, 

"  Charles  Cummings, 

"  Joseph    Alexander, 


Thomas  Jackson, 
Samuel  Leake,  P. 
Jolin  Brown. 


Lewes, 


'  Was  not  received  by  the  synod. 


514 


1770. 

Presbyteries. 
1st.  Philadelphia,  James  Boyd,  P. 
"  James  Watt,  P. 

Donegal,  John  King, 

New  York,  William  WoodhuU, 

P. 
Donegal,  Hezekiah    James 

Balch,  P. 
Hanover,  Hezekiah  Balch,  P. 

2d.  Philadelphia,    Samuel  Eakin,  P. 


New  Castle, 
New  York, 

CI 

tt 

Donegal, 
New  Castle, 


SuiFolk, 

New  Brunswick, 


New  York, 
New  Brunswick, 

Donegal, 
Dutchess, 


Donegal, 


1771. 

John  Wondhull,  P. 

Josiah  Lewis,  P. 

Alexander  Miller, 
P. 

Oliver  Deeming,  Y. 

Jonathan  Murdock, 
Y. 

Joseph  Rhea,  re- 
ceived from  Ire- 
laiKi. 

1772. 

Thomas  Read, 
James  Wilson,  P. 
James  Anderson, 
Joshua  Hart,  P. 
Alexander  McLean, 
William  Schenck, 

P. 
Amzi  Lewis,  Y. 
Jacob  Vanartdalen, 

P. 
Hugh  Vance,  P. 
Benjamin    Strong, 

Y.  received  from 

New  England. 
Ichabod  Lewis,  Y. 
Samuel  Mills,  Y. 

1773. 

William  Thom, 
Robert  Hughes,  re- 
ceived Irom  Ire- 
land. 
*  David  McClure, 
received      from 
New  England. 


Presbyteries. 
Donegal 


*Levi  Frisbie,  Dart. 
received    from 
New  England. 


1774. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  William    Hollings- 

head. 
New  Castle,  Thomas  Smyth,  P. 

Hanover,  William  Irwin, 

Orange,  James  Campbell, 

received    from 
South  Carolina. 
"  Thomas  Reese,  P. 

"  John  Simpson,  P. 

"  James  Edmonds,  re- 

ceived from  South 
Carolina. 
2d.  Philadelphia,   Robert  Davidson. 


1775. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  Nathaniel  Irvin,  P. 
"  Daniel  McCalla,  P, 

Suffolk,  John  Davenport,*P. 

New  York,  Matthias  Burnet,  P. 

•'  Joseph  Grover,  Y. 

New  Brunswick,  James   Gourly,  re- 
ceived from  Scot- 
land. 
Donegal,  Thomas     McPher- 

rin,  P. 
"  Colin  McFarquhar, 

received    from 
Scotland. 
Dutchess,  David  Close,  Y. 

"  Blackleech  Burnet. 


1776. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  Israel  Evans,  P. 
William  Linn,  P. 
New  Brunswick,  John  Dcbow,  P. 
Donegal,  Samuel  Dougal, 

"  John  Black,  P. 

2d.  Philadelphia,  Hugh  McGill,  re- 
ceived from  Ire- 
land. 


*  Missionaries,  not  received  by  the  synod. 


515 


1777. 

Presbyteries. 
1st.  Philadelphia,  Robert  Keith,  P. 
New  Castle,  James  Power,  P. 

New  York,  Ebenezer  Bradford, 

P. 
New  Brunswick,  John  Warford,  P. 
Donegal,  John  McMillan,  P. 

»  John  McKnight,  P. 

Hanover,  Samuel    Stanhope 

Smith,  P. 
Lewes,  Ebenezer  Brooks. 


1782. 


New  Castle, 
New  York, 


1778. 

James    F.    Arm- 
strong, P. 
Andrew  King,  P. 
Thaddeus  Dodd,  P. 

1779. 


1st.  Philadelphia,  James  Grier,  P. 
"  Andrew  Hunter. 

1780. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  Isaac  Keith,  P. 
New  Castle,  William  Smith,  P. 

New  Brunswick,  Philip  Stockton, 

"  George  Failoute,  P. 

Hanover,  John  Blair   Smith, 

P. 
"  Caleb  Wallace,  P. 

"  Samuel  Doak,  P. 

"  Edward  Crawford, 

P. 
"  James   McConnell, 

P. 
Lewes,  John  Rankin, 

"  Samuel  Mc  Masters. 

Orange,  Samuel    McCorkle, 

"  Robert    Archibald 

P. 


1781. 


New  Castle, 
New  York, 
Donegal, 


Daniel  Jones, 
John  Joline,  P. 
David  Bard,  P. 
Samuel  VVaugh,  P. 
John  Linn,  P. 


Presbyteries 
Orange, 


Thomas  H.  McCaU, 
P. 

James  Hall,  P. 

Thomas    Creag- 
head,  P. 

James   Templeton, 
P. 

James  McRee,  P. 

John  Cosson, 

Nathaniel  W.  Sem 
pie,  P. 

John  E.  Finley,  P. 

James  Dunlap,  P. 

John  Henderson,  P. 

Daniel  Thatcher, 

William  Hill, 
1st.  Philadelphia,  William     Mackey 
Tennent,  P.  re- 
ceived from  Con 
necticut. 


New  Castle, 


Donegal, 
Orange, 


1783. 


Donegal, 
Orange, 


Matthew  Woods,  P. 
Stephen  Balch,  P. 
John  Hill, 
David  Barr. 


1784. 


1st.  Philadelphia,  Simeon  Hyde,  Y. 
Orange,  Francis  Cummings, 

"  James  Frazier. 


1785. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  William  McRee,  re- 
ceived from  Ire- 
land. 
New  Brunswick,  Joseph  Rue,  P. 
"  Peter  Wilson,  P. 

"  William  Boyd,  P. 

"  Joseph  Clark,  P. 

"  George  Luckey,  P. 

Donegal,  James  Johnston, 

"  Matthew  Stephens, 

received    from 
Ireland. 
New  Castle,  James    Munro,   re- 

ceived from  Scot- 
land. 


516 


New  Castle, 
Suffolk, 


New  York, 


17S6. 
Presbyteries. 

1st.  Philadelphia,  John  Johnston,  re- 
ceived from  Ire- 
land. 
"  William  Pickels,  re- 

ceived from  Eng- 
land. 
John  Burton,  t 
Joshua   Williams, 

Y. 
Nathan   Woodhull, 

Y. 
John  McDonald,  + 
"  James  Wilson,  re- 

ceived from  Scot- 
land. 
"  James  Wilson,  jr.  t 

James   Glassbrook, 
received   from 
England. 
New  Brunswick,  James     Muir,    re- 
ceived from  Ber- 
muda. 
William     Graham, 

P. 
Moses  Hoge, 
Samuel  Carrick, 
John  Montgomery, 

P. 
William  Wilson, 
Benjamin  Irwin,  P. 
John  McCue, 
Samuel  Shannon,  P. 
Andrew  McClure, 
James  Mitchell, 
John  D.  Blair,  P. 


Hanover, 


Presbytbries. 

Hanover, 

«( 

New  Castle, 
Orange, 


Samuel  Houston, 
Adam  Rankin, 
Samuel  Barr,  t 
Jacob  Leake. 


1787. 


South  Carolina,     Robert  Hall, 

"  Robert  Finley, 

"  Lobert  Mecklin, 

New  York,  James     Thompson, 

received    from 
Scotland. 

New  Brunswick,  Walter  Monteith, 

Philadelphia,  Ashbel  Green,  P. 

Carlisle,  Charles  Nesbit,  re- 

ceived from  Scot- 
land. 

1788. 

North  Carolina,    Nathan  Grier, 
Suffolk,  Noah  Wetmore,  Y. 

in  1757. 
"  Aaron  Woolworth, 

Y.  received  from 
New  England. 
New  York,  Samuel  Fordham, 

New  Brunswick,  Ira  Condict,  P. 

"  Asa  Dunham, 

Carlisle,  Samuel  Wilson,  P.  ] 

"  Hugh  Morrison,  t 

"  James  Snodgrass, 

Suffolk,  Thomas  Russel. 


t  Received  as  licentiates  or  candidates  from  Scotland  the  year  before. 
t  Received  the  year  before  as  a  licentiate  from  Ireland. 


END  OF  PART  II. 


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